#it's kind of just a way to store them/make a sort of gallery I can reference

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for reporting my shitty college roommate to the FWS and her teacher, and possibly getting her suspended/expelled/jailed/fined?

CW for brief dead animal mention

For context: I live in the USA and all native species of birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes it illegal to kill, harm, etc. native bird species and/or possess parts of them including molted feathers, bones, nests, etc.

Also: The FWS is the Fish and Wildlife Service and is a government agency that deals with animal and plant conservation and habitat protection.

Anyways, I (F25) live in a dorm room with two other people, Ally (F26) and Sammy (F28) (not their real names obviously). Sammy is a nice roommate, she's very considerate and kind, and we get along really well.

Ally, on the other hand, is a nightmare.

Very self absorbed, rich parents, "white witch" privileged white girl type, treats Sammy and I like maids instead of roommates.

Ally and I are both art students, I'm pursuing 3D animation and she's doing... Something. I have no idea. Sculpting?

I do digital modeling and animation so I can just do that in my room on my PC, but she needs a specific area to do her sculptures, which is fine!

Except that she does NOT clean up after herself. Leaves material all over the place, there's bits of clay stuck to fucking everything, and she does it right in the living room.

She's also burnt sage INSIDE THE APARTMENT despite Sammy having asthma. She did not warn us beforehand, we found out when we walked in and Sammy started coughing and wheezing and we had to go back outside. She was 100% aware of Sammy's asthma because she saw her use her inhaler once and asked about it.

She then asked if she "could try it" which... Girl what. "Can I try it?" Has now become an inside joke between Sammy and I about her inhaler.

Coming from a rich family, I can tell she's never faced any consequences for her actions. Ever. She thinks she's untouchable and that mommy and daddy will pay for everything and make all her problems go away.

Sammy and I come from families who are not ungodly rich, and that's resulted in her treating us like live-in maids. She does none of the chores, none of the housework, absolutely nothing. Constantly inviting her friends over to peruse her "art gallery". Regularly keeps Sammy and I up at night with her music and friends.

We rent an apartment near our college, and we don't live in the dorms so we don't have anyone to complain to besides our landlord, who's an incredibly sweet elderly woman that we're all hesitant about bothering.

Except for Ally, who's prepared to bother her about everything, including but not limited to: Apartment being too hot. Apartment being too cold. A weird smell. Noise from the street. Neighbors dog barking. Front door being creaky.

We basically went "Haha hey Ally don't worry you're SO busy lol we'll talk to her for you okay!" just so she doesn't bother the poor lady.

We're mostly just afraid that if we kick out Ally, her parents will tear that woman apart. Sammy and I are both unconfrontational anyways and don't want to bother anyone.

Ally is working on her latest sculpture for finals (basically the big report due at the end of a semester). It actually looked pretty cool, but something about it was... Off.

Oh yeah, it's absolutely covered in native bird feathers and a nest. A real one, not one of those fake ones you can buy at a craft store.

She came home one day after going out with her friends for HOURS, and she had two big bags full of stuff. I asked what she was up to and her response was sort of "It's a secret teehee, it's for my art piece ;)" so I was just like haha okay.

So, it turns out her and her friends went out into the woods and spent HOURS picking up molted feathers (all of them are very witchy do-no-harm types so there's no way any of them killed live birds. Ally refuses to even kill bugs, I have to catch them and let them out). She also mentioned her friends parents have tons of bird feeders at their house, which means LOTS of molted feathers.

Also, instead of cleaning them in her bathroom sink she washed them off in the kitchen sink, meaning we couldn't do dishes for a few hours. So that was cool.

I actually collect and clean animal bones in my free time, so I'm very familiar with the laws. I know which species in my state are protected, which species I can possess with a permit, etc. I also know that the MBTA is a thing that exists.

I've met her art teacher before, and I know that the woman's not stupid. She will DEFINITELY notice that the sculpture is covered in blue jay, cardinal, grackle, etc. feathers.

I was going to keep my mouth shut and just let Ally dig her own grave, but I did mention it to her through text. I said "Hey, I love your sculpture but I just wanna let you know that using those feathers is actually illegal, since they're from native species of birds. My parents own chickens and ducks and I can get you a lot of really cool feathers for your project if you want! Sorry for the bad news but I just don't want you to get in trouble :("

She messaged back and said "Um, thanks but I don't want feathers from gross barnyard animals, Mother Gaia gifted me these beautiful feathers. Besides, I actually have money to take care of my problems."

What the fuck.

I didn't know what else to do besides message back "Oh! Okay!"

Those "gross barnyard animals" she mentioned include breeds like dominiques, copper marans, both gold and silver sebrights, Yokohama, and a few cayuga ducks, all of which have absolutely gorgeous feathers. I was also going to surprise her with some peafowl feathers because my parents' friend owns them.

So here's where the AITA part comes in.

I was furious with her constant classism, treating Sammy and I like shit, and blatantly disregarding laws (especially ones literally put in place to protect "Mother Gaia's" creatures) just because her parents have money.

So after she went to bed I went out into the living room, took pictures of her sculpture, and then not only sent the pictures to her art teacher but the FWS. I let the game warden know I also emailed her teacher and vice versa. I also sent screenshots of our conversation where I told her about the law, so they had proof she was 100% aware of it but ignored it anyways.

I let Sammy know, and her response was "That's a thing? Well, her teacher would have reported her anyways I guess."

A few days later, we get a knock on the door. It's a game warden. I let him inside, went to my room, and proceeded to listen to Ally doing her "I'm a poor innocent victim how could you do this to me!" crying. I mostly just felt bad for the poor game warden for having to deal with her.

The only thing I could hear from the other room was her wailing like a banshee and him going "Ma'am, please calm down. Are you alright ma'am? Ma'am..."

A few days later Sammy and I came back from the store to see all of Ally's stuff gone. All of her clay, supplies, clothes, etc. were gone and her room was totally empty except for her bed frame (which came with the house).

I have no idea what happened. I'm sure she wasn't allowed to turn in a sculpture covered in illegal feathers for her final, so Idk if she was suspended/expelled or if she just had a tantrum and moved out?

On one hand it was really fucking nice seeing her face consequences for her actions, but the other part of me feels bad about possibly getting her suspended/expelled/fined/jailed over feathers and a nest.

The EPA website states that punishment for MBTA violations for misdemeanor offences (which I believe she committed since I don't think she planned on selling anything, and I know she didn't kill any of the birds) can range from up to $5,000 in fines to no more than six months in jail.

So, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[nobrashfestivity]

I’ve followed this blog for some time now and it’s opened up another world for me. Art in my small corner of this earth is limited and distant from the average person, and if neither of those things, hidden and discouraged. It’s quite nice to get some of the thoughts and insights from the person behind this beautiful space.

At least once a year, I make it a point to make the trip to my closest folk art gallery and have noticed similarities to some of the pieces you post. The connections between that and this blog created a silent yet tangible dialogue about art for me that takes place no where else except my own mind, but is very important to me.

All this to say, I enjoy and appreciate reading what you have to say alongside the work you post. Even if it isn’t necessarily about art.

I greatly appreciate your kind words. It's bolstering when someone gets something out of something you're doing, even if it's just a blog. It's a wonderful thing to hear and I'm always surprised by it.

I think one of the things the internet is still good for is exploring visual art. And part of that, I think, is because art galleries are still around as a destination.

The internet used to be great for music and film but with film, for instance, there are far fewer repertory theaters than when I was growing up and you miss the experience a bit without the theater. With music there was an era of great music blogs (Holy Warbles was the king for me) almost all shut down for copyright violations, which was nuts because these records were all out of print, obscure thrift store stuff or private label issues that no one was making any money off of it. It's too bad that if it's even remotely possible to monetize something it's already been done (like, *cough*, tumblr)

But all of that said, we still have an amazing resource and high res gallery scanning seems to be in a healthy place. It's not a wild, bohemian collection exactly, but the Rijksmuseum will allow you to download more or less anything and even mail you a high res scan you can use for anything that's public domain. That kind of thing was once unthinkable. I've learned a lot that way just collection browsing.

I don't write much on posts because I don't want to drag them down. The art can stand, I figure. It's also hard to write about art because quickly it feels like sort of it's degenerating to "I knew from a very early age that I was special" and it gets very coded as an advertisement for someone's egotistical view about themselves. As if the art you like you are partially responsible for creating.

It's really hurt a lot of abstract art because along with the money-laundering art trade, I think people just expect a different experience of it. As if any consecrated art movement may not have humor or bad work and good work. One of the nice things about the folk art movements is that the art is so obviously personal and it can have that kind of great energy to it as it's so distanced from the idea of commerce. Bill Traylor was probably not trying to please Clement Greenberg.

At the end of the day, people really just want to express themselves and find their own avenues to understand and to be understood. Even if no one says it out loud, I think some people know inside that art can save their lives.

#questions #personal #sorry to ramble #but I fell on the sidewalk outside and was temporarily in pain

[arengnera]

The Flesh Dress

All of the fabric for this was reclaimed from curtains, scraps, tights, discarded tule from a local highschool prom that I snatched up like a horrible little vulture. The boning in the bodice was done with huge zip-ties but I’m not convinced getting real sewable boning wouldn’t have been worth it. The channels on the reinforcement were a bit of a bitch. The swords I also forged myself, but this ain’t about them. A lot of (mostly fake) blood, sweat and tears went into this one and I’m super pleased with the results. Huge shout out to @spoonbendersanonymous​ who was kind enough to lend me the fake blood, their anatomical text book, and had me sit down to watch Bride of Reanimator for inspiration.

Process photos and bonus photoshoot pictures below the cut!

Original sketches! A lot of me trying to figure out how to make boning look like bones while maintaining a classic shape. I said edwardian on the sketch but it honestly might be Victorian I'm really not sure. This was a combined art project for one of my classes, the idea was using old fashioned mourning traditions and clothes in a modern and campy way, to complain about how much capitalism erodes our time to mourn. At least that’s what I told the professor, It’s really about making a weird and off putting dress first and foremost.

Tape pattern and paper pattern! This was my first time doing this so don't take thus as any sort of guide.

It worked though, as shown by the world’s worst corset fitting - the pink thing on my arm was where I was planning on putting the upper sleeve, I was trying to see if my poof was good since my sleeves were a lot thinner and a lot longer than what would have been optimal for the amount of poof I wanted, I had to do some work around with the fabric I had

Now I’m just bragging about getting eyelets to look clean and good for once in my life. If I was going to do anything different about this though, I would ad more eases in the back, because I need to contort horribly to get out of the bodice, I fit it too well

This bad boy was really the crux of the whole project. The entire thing was a pun so I could applique an anatomically accurate heart on a sheer sleeve.

This was was it’s intermediary stage, where I was suddenly very much out of time for the first deadline and had to put off adding all of the gore I wanted to, so the simple applique heart had to do. The skirt itself was way less poofy than I would have liked, and didn’t quite give the silhouette I wanted. I ended up going with the train because the under skirt isn’t actually connected in the back. Thus is the nature of working with weird panels of curtains you’ve already cut into for a few other projects. God bless the thrift store curtain section.

The guts were made by sewing together sheer tights, and filling them with polyfill. Here they are, before they were stippled with liquid flesh colored latex and soaked in fabric paint - and after where you can see all that extra TEXTURE

I was able to use it for another project though, and I was very happy with the beading work here, although I did end up losing my biggest strand at some point.

Here’s my makeup test! I played around with doing some blood red lips but decided the blueish corpse look was better. Fun fact! I drove home wearing a sweatshirt that says “I heart corpse desecration” on it through the snow storm, and pulled over to offer some guy a hand with his car, forgetting I still looked like this. He turned me down.

The face of someone who can definitely be trusted for road side assistance. - Also I was posing as the two of swords tarot illustration for the final gallery exhibit.

#art #fashion #sewing #I'm finally getting around to putting this out there so I can find it again #I have so many pictures but I'm afraid tumbler won't let me show them all #Maybe I'll make another post about the swords #but those are decidedly less well made #turns out forging is very hard and I never tempered them or sharpened them properly #I lost one of my pomels in the forge and gave up which is why the hilts are resin cast #but I made a couple of shitty ass swords though! Which I think is more swords than most people have ever made so I'll take it #This dress also specificly got me told that I couldn't come to a wedding as a reanimated corpse #which is very funny and only slightly homophobic

[hyperfixations-and-hecticness]

BNHA Class 1A girls in a relationship with a shy fem!reader:

Mina

- Mina is not shy, to put it lightly. Dating her is like that meme like, ‘I said I didn’t want any pickles’ ‘SHE ASKED FOR NO PICKLES!’.

- She does find it adorable when you’re shy around everyone. She likes outdoorsy dates but she’s 100% willing to compromise. Movie dates instead of things where you may have to talk to a bunch of other people, she takes you to art galleries when they’re half empty so you can enjoy the art together.

- She will hype you up to her friends and do some of the talking for you cause let’s be honest, the bakusquad is perhaps not the best friend group if you’re shy.

- She really doesn’t mind if you’d prefer her order for you or if you just kinda sit there with the group, holding her hand while everyone is chilling. She’s a big people person so she can handle that extra socialising, especially for her lovely gf.

Momo

- Momo doesn’t mind a shy girlfriend at all. She isn’t exactly shy, herself, but she isn’t particularly outgoing. She likes pretty quiet dates anyway, so that works for her. She’s also on the taller side so you can hide behind her.

- She feels really honoured that you warmed up to her at all, especially enough to call her your gf.

- She’s pretty comfy just in your company so if you don’t like too many people in your vicinity at all, she’s perfect for you. She is both super rich and has a love language of acts of service so she likes taking you to those fancy ass restaurants where there’s practically nobody else there. She will book out an entire movie theatre.

- You help her gain a lot more confidence in herself because she sees herself as a protector of sorts, she speaks out cause she doesn’t want you to have to. Also she’s super badass so while you may be quiet as a duo, you certainly aren’t weak.

Jirou

- My girl is in the punk scene, she deals with all kinds of people. My personal HC about her is she’s one of those people where the gang can need like someone who can print fake IDs and she’ll know a guy. Need tickets to a fancy ball? She knows a guy. She somehow knows likes everyone. This also means she knows places to take you that are low-key.

- She’s pretty quiet and she’ll make playlists for you so you can listen to them and have an excuse not to talk to people.

- She floats between groups to a certain degree, I mean we don’t really see her with the Bakusquad that much in canon. I feel like she hangs out with a lot of different folks and so I’m sure she’ll introduce you to people who are easy to talk to. This emotionally healthy girl knows that helping you make friends and connections outside of being with her is important and healthy. She also knows that sometimes you gotta build those relationships slowly and she’s willing to help you along the way.

- She loves really out-there dates. Like the most eclectic stuff: she’ll take you to abandoned buildings to explore, to cool out-of-the-way record stores, music gigs and art house movie screenings.

Tsuyu

- Actual sweetheart, she will introduce you slowly to the Dekusquad. Iida is low-key creepy intense about helping you overcome your shyness but at least you’ve got Deku as a fellow shy squad member. She’s just sweet and lets you grow closer with them on your own terms. We love a supportive gf.

- She really likes calm, as much as she loves being with people so it’s nice for her to have a gf who she can take to picnic dates by a lake. It just feels so peaceful and loving.

- She has such a loving aura that makes it easy to talk to her. And she’s so happy to be dating you, it’s endearing. Feel like a burden so you don’t like talking to people much? Not on her watch. She makes it a mission to make you feel loved.

- She’ll take you to to the aquarium on dates, read books with you, support you through everything. She genuinely is so nice that it’s hard to he stressed out around her. She’ll arrange dates that will slowly build up your people tolerance. She know what it’s like to be judged prematurely just cause she’s got a mutant based quirk. She knows that it can be hard to overcome shyness but she also knows that friends are some of the most important things and she’ll help you find at least a few.

Hagakure

- It’s pretty tough to be shy and invisible. She’s learnt to be upbeat and more noticeable. Downside of having an invisible gf is you can’t hide behind her slightly when meeting new people.

- She does understand that being shy can be super tough though, it can make you feel a bit unnoticed and sometimes kinda insecure. But she is here for you! She will help you build up your confidence, roping Ojiro into socializing practice with you to help you practice talking to folks you don’t know very well with someone non-threatening.

- She’s incredibly supportive of you. All the girlies are. She just does it in the most adorkable, tropey way. She’s a huge romantic, she’s watched all the classic romcoms. You’re the classic shy girl which makes her the hottie you end up with at the end of the movie with a beautifully filmed kiss in the final shot.

- She’s a big fan of coffee dates. So casual yet so intimate. Perfect. She’ll find the perfect local cafe for you two because her lovely gf deserves nothing but the cutest coffee date. You don’t like coffee? Don’t worry, they have all sorts of baked goods there. You’ll love it.

Ochako

- Another literal sweetheart. I mean she easily made friends with Deku so I’d say she just kinda collects shy folks. She’s so bubbly and upbeat, she just radiates ‘you can lean on me’ energy. She’ll introduce you to her friends with the cutest smile on her face and if you don’t want to meet them, that’s cool too! She knows those guys can be a bit much (looking at IIDA, I love him but he’s one overdramatic bastard).

- I just KNOW she gives the best hugs. Stressed out? An Uravity hug will cure ALL. Sad? Hug. Happy? Yeah I think you’re gonna need a hug anyway just in case.

- If you’re pining pre-dating and too shy to talk to her or something like that, no worries. She will befriend you. She’ll do it so subtly and slowly until you’re a part of the Dekusquad? Love to see it. Don’t worry, Todoroki will set you two up. He’s secretly a huge shipper, I’m sure of it.

- She gets it if you don’t like PDA so she’ll stick to just holding your hand when you guys are walking down the street. She loves cliche dates, often they’re affordable but carefully planned. A walk in the park when the baby goslings that live there have just started walking, that kinda thing.

My first ever request on this blog for @blue-boots-super-glue ! I hope you like it. I just did the class 1A girls as I know them the best.

#bnha content #hyper’s hcs #mina x reader #mina ashido #mina ashido x reader #bnha x reader #kyoko jirou #jirou x reader #momo x reader #momo yaoyorozu #ururaka ochako #ururaka x reader #ochako x reader #froppy #tsuyu x y/n #hagakure x reader #mha hagakure

[thisisarcanereverie]

Hello! Can you do another dark moon knight fic where Marc Steven and Jake kidnap the reader? Thank you!

Reflections (Dark! Moon Boys x Fem! Reader)

Hey Fella's I'm back! So I got these two asks a while ago that were similar and so I decided to make one. Considering I just don't have a lot of mental energy right now but still I wanted to try to write something. It might not be that good but still.

Also I want to reiterate that none of the gifs I use are mine, I mainly get them from Pinterest or I just look them up here. I also don't own any of the characters I write since they belong to disney and marvel respectively.

WARNINGS: Deals with Dark issues such as Stalking, Obsessive and Possessive Behavior, Death, Dissossiation, DID.

Summary: You were only a fragmented reflection of who you used to be before them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“My darling you would never believe the day we’ve had.” You continue to stare at the reflective wall as you assume Steven from the posh accent ranted about his day, well, their day. Considering the body belonged to more than just him. So far you only know Marc and Jake, although you couldn’t be sure if there weren’t more.

The smell of fast food made your stomach turn as Steven continued to ramble about what someone named Gus was up to or someone named Khonshu, which was a weird name to have in London but, who were you to judge?

It’s been this way for a while, you weren’t sure how long exactly, and you weren’t sure how you ended up here anyway. You worked for the National Arts Gallery where you and Steven first met, you were mainly stationed in the HR department but more often than not you found yourself roaming around the Egyptian Exhibit of the Gallery. You’ve always noted the shy Gift Shop employee, but never spoke to him until you saw Donna, the Staff Manager, in one of her tempers. Berating the poor man in front of everyone, just because a child had a question about one of the artifacts on display. You had interfered, giving her a warning that she was not above HR, and gave Steven the number for your desk in the HR department and to ring you up if he would like to file a complaint. 

Little did you know you should have just looked the other way. 

Just that one time. 

You should have looked away. 

Because after that Steven viewed you as a savior of sorts. An angel really. When everyone else just looked away you defended him. And Marc, who was semi present at the time of this occurrence, watched as Steven steadily became more and more obsessed with you. And Marc couldn’t lie, he was starting to be the same. You were beautiful, and you were genuinely kind. Something that has been all too rare in their life. They both watched you go about your day without you knowing. They know you wake up and brew your coffee before hopping in the shower. You always blasted some old 40’s songs as you got ready which they loved. You took your coffee with a lot of cream but no sugar, you went to work for HR and on your lunch break you liked to stroll around looking at all the different exhibits before finally settling down for the final stretch of the day. After work you don’t go immediately home, you walk by where the river is and just watch the water move. You would stay there for about half an hour before making your way back home. Occasionally, usually on a Tuesday or after friday you would leave work to go grocery shopping, sometimes stopping by a wine and spirit store for some wine. Once you made it safely home they would continue to stand outside, hoping for just a glance at you before returning to their apartment across town. 

Then one day, they noticed a man in your apartment. So far the day has been normal. You went to work, they watched as you strolled through the Egyptian exhibit, they even talked with you a bit. Because they just couldn’t control themselves. You often inquired about how Donna was treating them, but Steven lied and said it got better after you stepped in. He didn’t want you to worry. After talking a bit you went back to HR as Steven went back to working at the Gift Shop. Replaying the smile you had on your face until the end of his shift. He followed you as usual, to the lake then back home, Steven had switched to Marc at some point and as you entered your apartment building Marc noticed something strange. 

There was a light on in your apartment. 

And a silhouette of someone else as well. 

Marc couldn’t get a decent look at the man but when your silhouette joined the strangers in an embrace he felt something in him snap. Something deep and an emotion he hadn’t felt in so long took over. 

Jealousy.

Then suddenly his head began to hurt and his vision blurred until it all went black. 

It was four days until Marc and Steven regained the body. To them it felt like waking up from a bad hangover. Marc was first to regain control over the body, at first he wondered why it was so bright and where he managed to wake up this time. It took a fair few minutes to register the familiar reflective walls of the storage unit he rented, and your lovely frame quivering on his cot. 

Marc tried to remember what had happened, only recalling the feeling of jealousy and a man’s silhouette in your window and your embrace of him. Then the pain in his head and now this.

He tried talking to you calmly, as you filled him in on details. Apparently he had murdered the man you revieled to be a boyfriend in front of you and then drug you all the way here. He told you to refer to him as Jake Lockely to which Marc’s reaction was just great towards. Now he apparently has not one, but two alters that are complete polar opposites. Steven was shy, he at least wouldn’t kill someone if he had any other option. Choosing to simply look on and stalk than attack, meanwhile Jake seemed to be the type of person to kill first and ask questions later. Which Marc can all too relate to. 

He calmed himself before taking a moment to assess the situation. You, their dream girl, not only saw them murder someone, but also know about the alters now and were being held captive in a storage unit that Marc rents and that he soundproofed ages ago for when he had his night terrors or in case Steven woke up here instead. 

Maybe this didn’t have to be such a bad thing. 

You’ve seen the worst of them, got all the nasty and dark parts of him out in the open. Now there were only the good things to share. And since you were in the storage unit, and the chances of you actually escaping were slim to none, you’d have to rely on them. Marc had you exactly where he wanted you to be. 

So he kept you there, and discussed things with Steven and Jake, or as coherently as they could have. They all agreed that the storage unit would have to be a temporary thing. They love you and want you to be comfortable, so a big move was being planned. A property just outside the city, no more rent or heavy traffic where it would just be you and them. The combined funds of Jake, Marc, and Steven were enough to cover a down payment and some security measures to ensure your safety. 

So now here you were, still in the storage unit since Marc claimed there were still modifications that the house needed before the move. You’d long since stopped the fighting, it wasn’t getting you anywhere. You instead stare at your reflection in the wall and fade away while they confide in you. You dream of the life you could have lived if you had just looked away that one time. 

You don’t know if things would’ve worked out with your boyfriend, but you liked to think it could’ve. That eventually you would’ve moved in together, vented to him, joked with him, got a dog with him. Just living a simple, normal life. Where the sun would make an occasional appearance in the sky and shine on your shoulders, where you would walk aimlessly through ancient art, and where you watch the way the river moves underneath the fading light of day. 

You live as you sit lifelessly on that uncomfortable prisoner's cot and stare into a reflection of the person you used to be. You're trapped in hell but you live and dance and enjoy all life has to offer, at least in your dreams. Where there was no such thing as Marc Spector the Mercenary, Steven Grant from the Gift Shop, or Jake Lockely the Limo Driver. 

Where there were no more reflections.

Taglist:

@simonsbluee

@yuki235171

@dopeqff

@themapoftinyperfectthings

@later-gators12

@lovepeaceorelse

@ahookedheroespureheart

@8hgel

@onestopficshop

#x reader #mcu #marvel x reader #mcu x reader #marvel #dark jake lockely x reader #dark!moonknight #dark steven grant x reader #dark marc spector x reader #dark fic #dark mcu #dark mavel #x reader angst #oscar issac #x you #x y/n #dark x reader #hiatus over #ask rev

[jim-fetter-illustrations]

God can speak to all of us now....

Have you ever heard the voice of God in your head?

We now know this is possible even if God didn't really speak to you.

And it's not necessarily mental illness,..... it might just be technology.

Every once in awhile I hear about something so bizzare i just have to check it out and investigate how this story came to be.

To my surprise as unexpected and difficult it was to believe the story turns out to be true after all.

Ya see, The US Government Is Making Parametric Speaker Lasers That Create Voices out of Thin Air.

The Pentagon”s non-lethal weapons lab has come up with a direct energy weapon that can produce an effect like a haunted ghost in your head or the biblical burning bush.

Parametric speakers are a reality it seems, also known as "sound lasers," and they use the principle of ultrasound to project sound in a highly directional manner. They work by emitting a high-frequency ultrasonic wave in the 65 kilohertz range, which is beyond the human range of hearing, but is modulated with an audible signal that the human brain can hear,.... that's right there is no sound anyone can hear in the air, the sound is only heard within the Brain like voices in your head only you can hear.

I had always wondered how president Bush could have heard Gods voice in his head telling him to go to war with the middle east after 9/11, and now that possibility doesn't seem so far fetched if the weapons and oil industry had Parametric Speaker Lasers telling Bush to do just that, and Bush thinking it was God telling him,........ think about it,..... and how many situations could you manipulate if you had the power of putting Gods voice in peoples heads, and no one else could here it?????

The ultrasonic sound laser is highly directional, meaning it can be pointed or targeted in a specific direction. When this wave interacts with the air, it causes the air itself to demodulate the signal and, as a result, creates audible sound waves perceived only in the path of the beam.

And when someone is in the path of this beam, they hear the sound as if it's coming from inside their head, and no one around them hears anything.

Is that you God, what do you want me to do for ya?

In essence, parametric speakers sound lasers manipulate the properties of sound waves and the air's non-linearity to create a localized and focused auditory experience interacting with the listener's brain. The sensation of the sound originating within one's head is a result of the unusual way the sound waves are generated and directed.

Sooooo, if the government can do this with a few thousand dollars of electronics, don't tell me they aren't capable of activating mentally broken people to carry out heinous acts thinking God told them to do it, because of the voice in their head.

This is a whole new technology that is being tested in the battlefield in various places, so why not here in America to get people to do what government wants them to do thinking it's God telling them to obey, and Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God (caesar representing government).

Still don't believe this unbelievable story?

The Louvre in art gallery in Paris, France has recently installed this technology, and as you pass by the Mona Lisa the woman in the picture calls out to you 'in your head' and starts telling you her story—who she is, how she came to be painted, and how she's lived her cramped life inside this simple wooden frame for almost 500 years, and only you hear her story in your head, the person standing two feet away from you hears nothing, which is creepy if you ask me. And just to note, ever since the Louvre has been using this technology their gift shop sales has skyrocketed,... a subliminal advertisers dream come true......

This new technology is coming, because it's soooo powerful for all kinds of applications like sales, so Look forward to shopping malls, retail stores and all sorts of shopping experiences whispering to your inner sense of being to "BUY THIS" as if you thought your own self suggest it to you in your head, and again creepy to say the least, but it's coming to a store near you I'm betting..... if it isn't already there.

The phrase "The Devil made me do it" just might be a legal defence in the near future..........

............ is it just ME, or does the world seem to be getting more and more fucked up because we are using technology for all the wrong reasons, and not to help humanity but rather to make humanity obey those in power?????

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#god can speak to all of us now #obey its what god wants #Parametric speakers #mind control #mindfuck #sound laser #your fucked now

[blarrghe]

22, 30, 51 for OTP asks? For Taren and Dorian because I love them.

You know it you know itttt. Going to answer predominantly for the Matchsies-verse because I am back In It right now :3

22. What reminds each of their partner?

Taren: He's started associating him with all his favourite things and places. Libraries, good coffee, cooking spices and incense and magic, especially the flashier things; silver and crystals and those kind of bougie shops that sell that sort of paraphanalia. Also the colour black, and bad weather, because he can her him complaining about it in his head.

Dorian: he's new to the city, and even though Taren's only been in Denerim a few years, he seems to just fit right in. So everything, literally everything. Busy streets and dogs and graffiti and the grey foggy coastline and the train bridges and the public art installations and the nicer galleries too. Every single tattoo shop and record store and grungy looking club and eclectic looking coffee shop. Parks. Trees. Grass. Birdsong. Kids playing. Anyone speaking Elvhen in passing and definitely if they curse in it.

30. Your OTP gets to pick out each other's outfits; what is each wearing? Was literally joking about this earlier but. Dorian gets him to finally dress up. Much as he's tempted to do something sexy and risque he just can't help himself, he'd go for the works. Taren never dresses up, he never wears anything particularly form-fitting, hell, he barely ever even wears black. So there's silk and textures and jewelry and it's all snappy and clean and super dapper and nice.

Taren has him get naked. "What? I like it when you're naked," he says with an annyoingly satisfied smirk. Dorian can't complain.

51. What’s a non verbal way they say I love you? Copying you here because crying crying crying etc. Also ch. 2 of Matchsies 2 electric boogaloo (aka A Complicated Match) is like. 90% nonverbal "I love you" but I digress. You'll see. But for now, drabbles: Dorian texts, "take your break between 1:00 and 2:00 if you can, so I can call you on mine." He does this, Taren knows, because he's trying to trick him into taking his full hour. So he does, leaves the schedule block empty despite three pleading phone calls to fit in a butterfly and a quote and a pawprint today, and tells Sera he'll be in the back. At 1:15, he's on the phone when the bell chimes over the door, and Sera hollers back to get his attention. "Hold on," he says. "Tell her your on your lunch," Dorian complains back. "I will, I will." Out front, Sera is laughing at the desk, gesturing dangerously as she talks with a full cup of frothy-frozen-wipped-topping-and-vaguely-coffee-tinted beverage in her hand.

There's another, plainer, cup of coffee sitting on the desk with his name on it, and Dorian winks at him as he hangs up. -- "It's bloody ridiculous!" Dorian repeats for the fifteenth time, pacing in his wide kitchen. "I'm not changing it. I'm not changing it again." Taren nods solemnly.

"There isn't enough time in a bloody semester to cover both the Drakus methods and the Galitean principles in full, and why in the Void would I teach Galitean to a bunch of first-years! Half of them are never going to use it again in their lives, and the other half will stop using it as soon as they've understood Drakon!" Taren nods again. "It's ridiculous," he agrees. "The only reason anyone would use Galitaen these days is too write proofs as to why --" he pauses, mid stride. "Actually." Taren looks up at him, smirking as Dorian's expression goes distant and thoughtful. "That wouldn't make a terrible assignment." "And it would cover the new curriculum mandates." "While showing how very ridiculous they are." Now, there's a spark in his eye, inspired. "I need a pen." Taren passes him the one he has tucked behind his ear. -- For the past two weeks, time seemed to have stopped. Every hour a century, every minute milenia, et cetera. The longing has ceased being melodramatic or romantic, and has become simply mindnumbing. The airport is bright and unfriendly and the air feels clammy. Dorian checks his phone again, writes to Taren that he's minutes away from being through customs and calling a car and that he's desperate, aching, to be back in his arms.

Taren replies, "good," and "that was too fucking long a trip, vhenan." He closes his eyes a moment and tries his utmost to hear it in his voice. He retrieves his bag after too many minutes of watching bags that aren't his go round and around the carousel, and pulls it along through the last gate. He's too busy looking past the small crowd at first to see him, too busy peering ahead through an automated glass door to where the taxis wait on the street. So it makes him jump when he hears it. "Dorian!" He's grinning. He's holding a full dozen roses. Dorian is taking them from his hands before he realises his feet have even moved. He says stupid things, things that are miles and miles away from the only words he'd dreamed of saying and hearing and saying again, all flight. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" "No." "Why - why roses?" "It's romantic." "You're a bloody --" and he's crushing the flowers against his back, Taren is crushing his ribs with this embrace. "Bastard," he whispers.

[icewindandboringhorror]

A new little arrangement of pressed flowers glued to a sheet of paper lol.. I don’t know what else to do with them/can’t make cohesive patterns really, but the colors look neat together ! :0

#also yes I dust a little sparkly eyeshadow on them hgjh #just to bring out details and make the colors better in the light #they ALWAYS look completely crazy in photos because cameras and especially with indoor lighting just.. cannot get the colors #right - BUT in person at least it's a neat effect #And to me it's less about making some coherent pattern that looks nice and more just about like.. finding some way to display individual #flowers. more about the Parts within the Whole than the whole itself. #I'll think the individual patterns and shape and textures of every flower are neat so it's more about just.. Well Now I Have to #Throw These On A Page Somehow So I can Look At Them #if they match in any way then that's just a bonus lol #it's kind of just a way to store them/make a sort of gallery I can reference #ANYWAY #flouwere timbe #that tiny little daily looking thing or whatever it is in the very center is actually really cool because it has pink at the tips naturally #*daisy not ''daily' #I found it in a grouping of other ones that look just like it except the petals are only white #it was very interesting that it looked like the edges had been dyed pink or something but it just grew that way

[depressing-debbie]

Are you still doing the fluff alphabet? If so, could you do Levi?? Thank you 😘

Absolutely! Fluff alphabet masterlist is here

School may be crashing and burning but at least I’ve got time to write :) lmao

I wrote this at 3 AM and I refuse to edit, so enjoy <3

Fluff Alphabet: Levi

A ctivities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

I honestly don’t think the activity matters to him. He likes to stay home a lot because it’s easier, and because he feels more comfortable somewhere private. Big fancy dates aren’t super common because he views expensive romantic dinners and such as a cliche that he’s too old and mature for, but if it’s something his s/o would be excited about, he’d be secretly excited to indulge sometimes. He’d also probably enjoy museums and art galleries. But again, for the most part, he just wants to spend time with them, it doesn’t matter where.

B eauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Levi’s definitely not an appearance-oriented person. Don’t get me wrong, he thinks his s/o is stunning, and he makes sure they know it. But that’s not what he admires about them, their connection is so much deeper than that. He genuinely sees them for who they are and not what they look like, which is why they’re just so beautiful to him, if that makes sense. 

C omfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

He probably panicked the first time he saw his s/o struggling. He’s not the most in tune with his emotions, so he especially doesn’t know how to help others with this kind of thing. But I feel like his protective instincts would kick in and he would actually be really comforting. Most likely, he’d just sit by his s/o’s side silently and make his presence known until they were feeling well enough to talk. At which point he hears them out and offers some advice, of course with the perfect amount of sarcasm and shit jokes to cheer them up a bit. And he’d probably ask them later what they would prefer he do in that situation if it happens again, which of course he would remember in the future.

D reams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

This is a point of internal conflict for Levi, for sure. After everything he’s been through, again, he’s become pretty emotionally closed off. He can’t really depend on anything or anyone staying in his life for too long because they never have. So it would really take a while before Levi can really start to picture his future with his s/o. Even then, he would feel a bit guilty for allowing himself to indulge in those dreams. But at the end of the day, he just dreams about some sort of stability with his s/o some day. He doesn’t really care about the details, he just wants to know that they’re going to be together, and that they can develop some kind of routine and stability that he never really had in the past.

E qual - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

It’s definitely equal. Levi shares any decision-making with his s/o, and he’d definitely prefer that they do the same, just because that makes their partnership stronger. Because they are very much a team.

F ight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Levi does tend to have a bit of a temper, but it’s not something that he would ever want to bring into his relationship. He doesn’t let either of them fight over something petty just because it’s not worth it. And with a more serious disagreement, he’d try hard to start a genuine discussion about it. Things happen, though, so they obviously get in fights sometimes. Levi can be kind of rude when he gets really frustrated, which is why he tries to avoid it. But he’d never actually say something to hurt his s/o, even when they’re both upset. Usually, even the rare argument calms down enough to be settled rationally.

G ratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

He is so incredibly grateful for his s/o; he sees and appreciates everything they do for him, and he makes sure it’s known. Explicitly saying something like that makes him a bit uncomfortable, so he finds other ways to silently show his gratitude. He makes sure his s/o’s favorite mug is always clean, and he makes them his favorite blend of tea whenever he sees that they’re stressed out. Just little things that he does to make sure they know he’s thinking about them.

H onesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

There are pretty much no secrets in the relationship. The past is a little complicated; there are a few stories that Levi probably will never be able to share (or at least, it will take a very long time), and his s/o is more than entitled to keep secrets about their past that they just cannot share. But other than that, it’s an open book. Levi wouldn’t see any reason to lie about most things, unless it’s about keeping his s/o safe, and it would make him really uncomfortable to know that his s/o keeps secrets. Not that there are no boundaries, it’s just that he wouldn’t want to pour his heart out and be vulnerable just to find out that the other person doesn’t trust him as much.

I nspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

I think Levi’s s/o probably helps him a lot, actually. He’s been emotionally closed off for a long time, and being in a relationship with trust and a deep connection would help him to open up a bit and be more vulnerable. He also just lets himself be a bit happier and more optimistic with his s/o, so his life is just a bit easier in general.

J ealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

He’d never admit it out loud, but he actually does get pretty jealous. It’s mostly just self esteem issues, not a lack of trust at all. He trusts them more than enough to know that they’re not going to secretly abandon him, so of course he’d never make a big deal out of it (although I think it goes without saying that if someone is hitting on his s/o or something in public and they look remotely uncomfortable, he would go absolutely batshit) But, still, sometimes he can’t help feeling sometimes like he’s not enough for them. He tries to hide it, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s sulking when he’s upset, so his s/o would most likely spot it immediately. And all he would really need is a gentle reminder that he IS enough for them.

K iss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Alright I’m conflicted on this one. I’m just gonna say it, his first kiss with his s/o was kind of just not that great. He wouldn’t DARE not ask for proper consent, HOWEVER he ended up asking like three times just to make sure it was alright, which made it a teensy bit awkward. Once he finally gave in, he just gave them the teensiest little kiss and that was it for like two weeks. He’s not really great with physical touch so it takes a while for him to get comfortable. His s/o would probably have to take over from there or else they’d never kiss again, but once he gets comfortable, he does fine.

L ove Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

It’s during something incredibly mundane, probably just a car drive or a regular movie night. He’s going about his day when he realizes he loves them, and he’ll be damned if he’s gonna stew on that knowledge for another two weeks just because he’s too nervous. So in the middle of a movie or just like halfway home from the store, he just blurts out “hey, I love you”. It’s completely by surprise, but it’s not like it’s particularly early or far into the relationship, so it makes sense. From then on, he wouldn’t be the type of person to say it all the time (I mean, come on, his s/o should know by now, it’d just be stupid). But he also wouldn’t hold himself back from saying it when he’s feeling particularly grateful for his s/o one day. And hearing them say it back would definitely make him blush just the slightest bit every time.

M arriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

Levi would be absolutely terrified to get married. BUT that’s not to say that he wouldn’t want to. It would take some considering, sure, but especially if it’s something he knows his s/o wants, he’s all in. He’d probably propose in a similar way to how he first said he loves them, except at least just a bit more planned out. It wouldn’t be a cliche grand proposal with doves and rose petals and champagne, that would drive him crazy. Most likely, he surprises them with a homemade dinner, sets the table with candles, and hands them the ring. He’d put on a confident face, but he’s panicking for sure. He’s not really a marriage-y person, so he’s not going to be buying those matching couple towels that have like “mr ackerman” and his s/o’s name on them, and he’s most definitely not giving in to those cheesy weird nicknames (”hubby” makes him glare so hard). But he would love the perceived sense of stability, commitment, and routine that go along with marriage.

N icknames - What do they call their s/o?

Just their name, for the most part. Maybe “love” or “sweetheart”, but he always says that most nicknames are just too cliche. I mean, only lovestruck 20 year olds call each other “babe”, and that is most certainly not their relationship. But, honestly he wouldn’t mind if his s/o gave him one of those cheesy names... not that he’d ever let on to that, of course, but if they happen to figure it out one day... he wouldn’t be mad. Mostly he just loves to hear his name in their voice, so they call each other by their names. 

O n Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

The token stoic expression Levi keeps in public isn’t going away just because he’s in love. To an outside eye, absolutely nothing is different. But even in public, his s/o can probably tell. Maybe it’s something about the way his eyes are just slightly warmer, slightly brighter. Maybe it’s because he’s just the slightest bit more willing to talk and hold a conversation when they’re by his side. But when they’re alone, he finally lets down that stone expression, and he’s like a whole different person. It doesn’t happen often, but on days where he’s just absolutely lovestruck, he walks around his house smiling, holding his s/o’s hand, maybe even curling up on the sofa together to nap. On those days, he just kind of lets himself be happy. 

P DA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

Levi’s definitely not a fan of PDA. The relationship isn’t a secret by any means, but he’s also not broadcasting it for the entire world to see. The people close to him know, and that’s plenty. He doesn’t like PDA partly because it’s too vulnerable, but also just because it’s kind of gross and unnecessary to him.

Q uirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

This man has the best memory of anyone you’ll ever meet. It’s honestly a bit unsettling, but he remembers everything his s/o says, and he’ll find a way to bring it up like months later. Sometimes it’s as simple as remembering their favorite food and bringing it to them when they’re stressed out. But it could even be so crazy as them saying in a random conversation in July that they hate when mashed potatoes aren’t totally mashed, and boom, at Thanksgiving that year, they find him mashing the potatoes a little extra just to make sure. (Don’t ask how I came up with that example, my brain is weird.) His mind is a steel trap, and he uses it to his advantage.

R omance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

Cliche romance irritates him so much, he avoids it at all costs, so he’s mostly creative in that sense. He has an eye for picking out ways to make his s/o happy, and even though he doesn’t consider himself particularly romantic, he actually really is.

S upport - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

Absolutely! Levi wants nothing more than to help his s/o achieve whatever they’re working towards, and he’s completely supportive. Anything he can do, any help or emotional support he can offer them, he’s more than willing. 

T hrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

I don’t think he’s AGAINST trying new things, but he really just prefers a routine. Again, it makes him happy to have that connection of stability with his s/o, and he feels so much more comfortable knowing he can depend on that.

U nderstanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

He’s very empathetic. He might struggle sometimes with understanding, just because it’s not very likely that he and his s/o have had similar experiences in life, but he knows them like the back of his hand. What he lacks in immediate understanding, he makes up for in conversations about any issues and an ability to read their expressions really really well.

V alue - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

Honestly, if Levi is in a long term relationship with someone, they’re one of the most important parts of his life. He doesn’t make superficial connections, and he especially doesn’t open up to people he doesn’t care deeply about, so it’s safe to say that he values his s/o greatly. 

W ild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

He buys his s/o flowers once a week. It’s just a little tradition that makes him happy, and he likes seeing that it makes his s/o happy, so he’s kept it going. If they don’t like flowers, then maybe it’s a little trinket they collect, or a cookie from their favorite bakery. But regardless, he hasn’t missed a week since they’ve been together, it’s really important to him.

X OXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

He’s not necessarily an overly affectionate person. There are occasional days where it really just hits him how lucky he is, and he just wants to hold his s/o for a while and not go do anything that day. But for the most part, he’s not clingy in any means, and his s/o would have to initiate most cuddling. He’ll let them know if he’s really not in the mood, but he usually doesn’t mind (because let’s face it he’s a teensy bit touch starved). But yeah, he shows his affection in different ways for the most part.

Y earning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

It’s not really an issue for him. He’s always been an independent person, so even after he lets himself trust that his s/o isn’t leaving him, he’s not going to be that level of dependent on their presence. He probably would have to fill up his schedule a bit more, though, just so he didn’t have too much down time to get all sad and miss them. He’d also probably clean everything in his sight to calm down until they return.

Z eal - Are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

He’s zealous for sure, he isn’t about to let go of a relationship that means this much to him just because he wasn’t willing to put in the work. He’d do as much as he could to make it work. 

#attack on titan #attack on titan headcanons #aot headcanons #aot #shingeki no kyojin #snk #shingeki no kyojin headcanons #snk headcanons #levi #levi ackerman #fluff alphabet #levi fluff

[alpacaparkaseok]

Ivy

➣ Pairing: apprentice!Jungkook x reader, art curator!Hoseok x reader

➣ Premise: You’ve been promised to Jung Hoseok for twelve years. You’ve never wanted anything else. Until now. (inspired by the song “Ivy” by Taylor Swift)

➣ Genre: arranged marriage au, angsty with some fluff, SFW

➣ warnings/tags: it’s a bit angsty, the reader is technically promised to someone else so it’s a little messy, general EmOTioNS, a bit intense/stalkerish but not too bad?? some fun fluff and banter as well, but Hoseok might kill a man and Jungkook will go down fighting

➣ word count: 12.2k *yeah, I know. this sucker is like 3 times longer than it was meant to be*

➣ a/n: this was a commission by @delacyrose224 for Army for AAPI! Thank you so much for requesting this awesome prompt, I literally had too much fun writing this. I swear, I could’ve made a whole series out of this. You guys, check out ways to get involved in this awesome cause by clicking the link!

The person staring back at you in the mirror is not you. Of that, you are certain. There’s no way you could ever pull this off – the silken layers, ivory making your skin glow with a dew-like complexion…

           You voice as much. “I don’t even recognize myself.”

           “Isn’t that kind of the point?”

           Whirling around in a flurry of skirts and soft-to-the-touch fabric, you spot your betrothed lingering in the doorway.

           “Hoseok!”

           He chuckles, the sound making the corners of your lips tug upward. Taking in the sight before him, you can’t help but notice the way he chews on the inside of his cheek. Hoseok takes one hesitant step forward, crossing his arms.

           “You should’ve seen me earlier,” he croons, voice always sounding like he’s a breath away from laughter. “I thought my dad had somehow teleported into the mirror.”

           You wince. “Does this mean we’ve grown up?”

           “Unfortunately.”

           Twelve years of waiting for this. How have they already passed?

           “You know,” Hoseok begins, dropping your gaze in favor of stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I haven’t even properly proposed to you, yet.”

           “You should probably get on it.”

           “Mmm.”

           “Aren’t we getting married in April?”

           He frowns. “Yeah, mid-April I think. It’s barely November, though. So there’s no pressure, right?”

           You almost burst out laughing at his simple question. No pressure? Pressure has been your constant companion these past twelve years.

           What else were you supposed to feel? Trying telling a thirteen year old that they’re already promised to somebody and then tell them “Oh, but no pressure.” Of course, they made sure to drop that little piece of pointless comfort after they mentioned who you had been promised to.

           Jung Hoseok.

           Three years your senior, he had seemed larger-than-life when you first met less than a year after learning of your pre-determined commitment to him. He’d been kind, that was your first thought. A little strange, a little loud at times. For your teenage self, that was fine.

           Then things began to change. It was a rare occasion that you ever saw Hoseok; the two of you lived in different cities. However you distinctly remember one occasion in which you had unintentionally bumped into him while in search of your parents at their giant headquarters located in Busan.

           It was easy to get lost in that building – you still can picture all the different nooks and crannies where different works of art were stored. The more valuable ones were of course under lock and key, however there were plenty of show rooms that you managed to get lost in.

           You had done just that, taking a detour through the preservation room where several workers could be seen on the other side of the glass cleaning a timeless piece that had just been flown in from Austria. Once you realized where you were, you turned to leave. However, something caught your eye that made you hesitate.

           There was Hoseok, perched on the edge of a stool as he leaned over the artwork. There was nothing particularly flashy about him that day, something you weren’t used to. In all your time of knowing him (four years at that point), you had never seen him in something other than formal wear. If it wasn’t some sort of suit or dress shirt, it was a sweater vest that he somehow managed to pull off.

           This time, he was disguised in a white lab coat, holding a Loup to his eye in an effort to analyze the fine details of the painting. His brown hair was a little mussed, his knee bouncing up and down in the only outward show of excitement he portrayed.

           One of the workers began speaking, the details of their conversation muted to your ears due to the glass separating you from them. However, you watched as Hoseok listened with almost terrifying focus before turning back to the painting and delicately taking a brush to the frame. No doubt dusting off some invisible smudge.

           You had been frozen for a long moment, completely unfamiliar with this man. The Hoseok you knew was jovial and quick to laughter. He made you smile and roll your eyes. He put you at ease.

           This man, with his precise flicks of the wrist and unwavering focus, was a force of nature.

           You realized then, at the age of seventeen that while you were promised to this man, you did not know him at all. There was so much more hiding behind that heart-shaped smile.

           And now, at twenty-five, you are no closer to knowing him than you were before. You’ve never known anyone else quite so talented at wielding smiles with the same deftness as a sniper hiding on a rooftop.

           “No pressure?” You scoff, wiggling an eyebrow at your intended sniper. “That means I can’t gain any weight from here to April! That’s impossible with the holidays coming up!”

           Hoseok bursts out laughing, clapping at your comment as though you’ve just completed a stand-up routine. “That’s a good point,” he sighs, making a contented sound. “I’ll have to ask my tailor to let out my suit a bit in the spring.”

           You fidget on the pedestal, glancing back at the mirror over your shoulder. Your gown is breathtaking, there’s no denying it. It’s just…overwhelming.

           “Well,” Hoseok begins to back out of the room, “You look beautiful. Sorry for snooping around, but I couldn’t resist.”  

           You straighten up at his comment, preening a bit. Over the years, you’ve come to realize that Hoseok’s compliments are not given lightly.

           “Thank you.”

           He shrugs. “It’s true.” He turns on his heel and strides out the door, calling over his shoulder, “We’ll fly out first thing in the morning.”

           Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, from Beethoven’s Opera 58 echoes off the domed ceiling, bouncing through the air and enveloping you in a cocoon of music. Without your realizing, your right foot bounces out the rhythm as you crane your neck to get a better look at your work.

           “C’mon, David,” you groan, sparing the renowned sculpture a glare. “You’re not making this easy on me.”

           “I wasn’t aware that sculptures got vasectomies.”

           You jolt, nearly tipping off of your step stool before two warm hands grasp your shoulders. Sputtering and spewing, you spin around to see just who you need to direct your cursing at.

           “Who are you?” You fume as the person in question removes their hands from you and takes a timid step back.

           “Jeon Jungkook, m-ma’am.”

           “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”

           Jungkook’s eyes widen even more, something you didn’t think he was capable of doing. Chowing down on his bottom lip, he gives you a small shake of his head.  

           “Then tell me who you are to me, not your name.” You inwardly grimace at your snappy tone, but you’ll apologize later.

           “Oh, I…uh, I’m the apprentice?” When you don’t immediately get a look of understanding on your face, Jungkook presses on. “Mr. Jung’s apprentice, ma’am.”

           Ah, that checks out.

           Hoseok’s father would be stepping down as the East-Asia representative on the international board of Art and Artifacts (basically the equivalent of the U.N. in art terms), leaving a spot open for Hoseok to ascend the ranks.

           “Why haven’t I met you before? Haven’t you been around for a while?”

           In order to complete the apprenticeship, Jungkook would need at least three years of working alongside Hoseok. Learning the ins and outs of being the curator of some of the biggest art collections and galleries in the world.

           “Yes ma’am, I have.”

           “Ok, Jungkook,” you stand up and stretch, gaining some sort of sick satisfaction from the way he scampers back a bit more to give you space. “Two things. First, I’m not ‘ma’am’. Just speak to me casually, ok?”

           There’s a flash of surprise in his eyes, but he nods. “And the second thing?”

           Turning point to the David in all his glory, you smirk over your shoulder. “Don’t sneak up on me when I’m working. David here nearly lost his balls because you startled me.”

           Cheeks flushed pink, Jungkook sputters out something resembling a “y-yes, I won’t do it again” before dropping his gaze to the floor. Chuckling to yourself, you resume your position before the sculpture, meticulously layering on a protective substance to the David’s nether regions.

           You and Hoseok had been called over to Italy in order to make preparations for the upcoming art show. It was to be the first of its kind --- never before had these timeless artworks been on display like this. Royalty, presidents, dignitaries of every kind mixed with world-class celebrities would be present.

           As a precaution you were going through and applying a protective but clear substance to more fragile parts of the artworks. Today, the David was the lucky one.

           “So, Jungkook,” you hum, completely undeterred by the strange position you were in at the moment. “What brings you over to my side of the museum today? Shouldn’t you be off with Hoseok, planning for the event?”

           “Ah, well…Mr. Jung said you might need a hand. I volunteered to assist you with whatever you need.”

           You blink. Hoseok had always been completely content to leave you to your work. It was a silent agreement you have: you let him do his thing, and he doesn’t interfere with your stuff.

           “Huh.” You smooth out the final touches, leaning back a bit. “Interesting. So what, you’re just hanging out with me for the rest of the day?”

           “Yep. For the rest of the week, actually.”

           David stares off into the distance, ever stoic. You swear you can see a bit of a confused glint in his eye as the sculpture listens in on your conversation. It’s always just been you and the artwork. So what’s this with Hoseok sending Jungkook over? Is he just trying to be kind and help you out?

           Probably. There’s no need to assume anything else. You just think…

           Well, despite trusting you, you would think he’d send someone less attractive to help you with your work. Is this some sort of trust exercise he’s pulling on you before he proposes? Or does he just not care enough to think about the possible repercussions of his actions?

           “Doesn’t he care at least a little bit?” You think aloud, frowning up at David.

           “What was that?”

           “Oh,” you swivel around to give Jungkook an apologetic smile. “Nothing. Do me a favor?” Jungkook nods. “Take a look at this for me, see if the extra layer is noticeable at all.”

           Getting up to move out of his way, you can’t help the grin that breaks out as Jungkook flushes a bit when he gets up close and personal with the David. Despite his obvious embarrassment though, he meticulously checks ever angle.

           “I can’t tell at all,” he finally responds, straightening up. “You’re amazing.”

           You blink. “Oh. Er…thanks.”

           “So, where to next?”

~~

           “We look like those ancient plague doctors,” Jungkook jokes, hanging you a bottle of clear liquid before you can even ask for it. “You know, like with the big beaks and stuff?”

           You snort, which in turn fogs up the inside of your suit. Waiting a moment for it to clear up, you glance back at Hoseok’s apprentice.

           He has a point. The two of you look slightly ridiculous, in your full body Hazmat suits that are necessary to inspect these ancient papyrus scrolls. They’re falling apart already, no need for you to contaminate them with something as feeble as a sigh. Once you’re finished working on them, they’ll be placed in thick Plexiglas cases which will keep them safe from the outside world.

           “We’re missing the beaks, though.”

           Jungkook hums, watching you carefully as you smooth out the scroll. “I bet we could roll these up and use them as beaks.”

           “Not funny.”

           “Worth a shot.”

           Rolling your eyes again; something you’ve become prone to doing in the past 24 hours you’ve known Jungkook, you set to work.

           It’s only quiet for so long before Jungkook speaks up again. He does so quietly, making good on his promise not to startle you anymore. “No Beethoven today?”

           You give a slight shake of your head, hardly daring to blink while applying the syrupy liquid to the bottom corner of the document. The slightest mess up would result in having to scrape it off before it dries, which is something you don’t want to have to try. Not when a single nick to the papyrus equals game over.

           Letting out a sigh of relief once you’ve completed that section, you sit back and stretch. “No,” you groan out mid-yawn. “It felt like a Tchaikovsky kind of day. Don’t know why.”

           “Hmm.”

           “Ok, we need to wait…” you glance at the clock on the wall. “About an hour to let that completely set in before flipping it and working on the other side.”

           “Great, let’s grab some lunch.”

           You blink, watching Jungkook as he shoots to his feet and heads toward the door. “I was going to suggest we get started on the next exhibit-”

           “Food first,” Jungkook chimes, leaving no room for argument as your stomach rumbles at the thought of lunch. “We’re literally in Italy, food always comes first.”

           Well, he has a point.

           You make a point of locating Hoseok before heading out for food, eventually finding him in a grand corridor surrounded by staff. Wherever Hoseok is, there’s constant motion. People flitting about, running errands and trying to keep everything moving in a timely fashion.

           As the two of you became closer work partners over the past few years, it’s become a familiar sight. It helps, finding Hoseok is usually fairly easy. Today proves no different.

           “Hoseok!” You wave him down, offering a smile to the surrounding staff that recognize you. The man in question is nudged by his assistant, Joshua.

           “Hey!” Hoseok breaks away from the group and jogs over to where you stand beside a column. He nods at Jungkook, smiling warmly. “What’re you two up to? I thought you were working the papyrus today.”

           “We have an hour before we can move on to the next thing, so we’re grabbing lunch. Wanna come?”

           “Oh,” the look of surprise on his face gives you cause to wonder when the last time you invited him to do something with you was. “That sounds…really nice, actually. Give me a minute?”

           Your heart stumbles as it pick up in speed, something you weren’t anticipating. “Yeah, sure. We’ll wait right here.”

           “Great, thanks.”

           With that, he scurries back over to the throng. Jungkook leans over to you, elbow nudging your arm.

           “What?”

           “How long do you think they’ll last before calling him?” Jungkook muses, an amused smile on his face.

           You can’t help but laugh, knowing full well that it won’t be long. “I’d say…thirty minutes?”

           “Really? I’ll give them forty.”

           “You’re too generous.”

           “Aren’t you being too hard on them?”

           Your eyes slide over to Jungkook, arching a brow. “No. So what are we betting?”

           Jungkook breathes through his teeth, taking in your determined expression. “Hmmm…money or something else?”

           “Not money, that’s too boring.”

           “Ok, ok.” Crossing his arms, Jungkook sways from side to side as he thinks. Slowly, his eyes drag across your face, trying to see something that’s beneath the surface. “If you lose, you have to be my date to the gala.”

           “W-what?!” You choke on your spit, staring up at Jungkook like he just grew a second head. “I can’t- why would you-”

           He tilts his head to one side, clearly enjoying your shock. “Hurry, make your bet. What happens if you win?”

           “Jungkook, I’m literally marrying Hoseok in a few months, I can’t just go as someone else’s date!”

           “Don’t worry,” he winks, only furthering your embarrassment, “I’ve it all planned out. Now, hurry up. He’s heading back.”

           Indeed, Hoseok is clapping Joshua on the shoulder and turning this way. Chewing furiously on the inside of your cheek, you blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “Ok, well if I win then you have to leave me alone for the rest of the week!”

           There’s a hint of worry that streaks across Jungkook’s features, but it’s covered up a few seconds later as he thrusts out his hand to shake on it. “Deal.”

           With the way he grins down at you, you can’t help but feel like this was a stupid thing to bet on.

~~

           You’re wedged into a booth not long after, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Hoseok. Jungkook takes the spot across from you two, never missing a beat in his conversation with your betrothed.

           “The guest list has been finalized,” Hoseok is saying, smiling warmly at the server that drops off some menus. You don’t miss the way she ogles your companions, shrugging it off. It’s become a common occurrence. You’re not blind to their looks.

           “It wasn’t finished before?” You ask, frowning. Hoseok passes a menu to you, leaning in a bit closer. It’s unnecessary, but the way he lets his leg rest against yours has a rush shooting through you.

           So…this is a new development.

           “No,” Jungkook answers for him. “Well, we thought it was, but then the curator here wanted to invite some more political officials. Has it been a mess trying to rearrange?”

           “Yeah, but everyone pulled their weight.”

           “That’s good to hear.”

           It’s relatively quiet as you all look over your menus, bouncing ideas off of each other for what they should get. After you’ve placed your orders, Hoseok nudges you.

           “Your mother called me last night.”

           Your eyes widen. “She did?”

           Both men chuckle at your obvious worry. “Yes, she did. We had a nice chat. Why do you look so concerned?”

           Perhaps it has something to do with the last conversation you had with your mother. It took place about three weeks ago, when she’d come up to Seoul for a visit. The visit had been pleasant enough; you’d gone to dinner and talked about things back home. She’d actually approved of your apartment, despite the eclectic feel to it.

           It has almost been too normal. You should’ve known that it was only a matter of time before something happened.

           You were busy putting your leftovers from the restaurant in the fridge, your mother hovering in the doorway to the kitchen with a pensive look on her face.

           “Have you ever had…doubts?”

           “Doubts?” Your voice was muffled from the odd angle, but you peeked out around the door of the fridge with a questioning look. “About what?”

           Your mother shrugged, keeping her eyes trained on the door of the fridge and its decorative magnets. “About Hoseok.”

           You immediately stood, closing the door with a dull thud. “What?”

           “I just…your wedding is coming up, he’s probably going to propose within the next couple of months – for heaven’s sake, you have your dress fitting coming up in just a couple of weeks, isn’t that right?”

           “Mom,” you voice was stern. “What is this about? You’re scaring me.”

           At your confession your mother finally met your eyes. “Oh, sweetie, I didn’t mean to worry you so much. But I can’t help but wonder, you know? We’ve never really talked about it-”

           “There was never anything to talk about!” You sigh, exasperated. “All I’ve known is that I’m going to end up with Hoseok, and that’s that! He’s a nice man, hardworking, and we make a good team.”

           “I know, darling. I know.” She hesitated before stepping forward, coming to place a loving hand on your cheek. “I just want you to know that you get to make this decision. Even though it may not have always felt like it. There is…more. Out there, for you.”

           More?

           “Just, uh…” you shake your head, trying to clear your mind of those thoughts rolling around your head. “Wanted to make sure she didn’t share any embarrassing information about me.”

           This makes both men chuckle, Jungkook leaning forward with eager eyes. “Like what? Do tell.”

           You blush at his undivided attention, groaning and slipping down further in your seat. Hopefully neither of them notice your pink cheeks, something tells you that Jungkook would never let you live it down.

           The fact that you don’t know how Hoseok would react has you even more on edge.

           Hoseok grins at you as you sit up again, reaching around your shoulders to pull you close. “Aw, you probably don’t have any embarrassing stories. We all already know that you’re perfect.”

           You blink, staring up at your betrothed as his smile softens. He’s never spoken to you like this. First sending extra help in the form of Jungkook, then dropping everything to go to lunch, now this?

           Before your mind can run with the idea blooming in your chest, your server appears with your food. Her eyes instantly zone in on you and Hoseok, something registering in her eyes as she offers you a warm smile. Then, she turns her full attention on Jungkook. Practically eating him alive as she sets his food down in front of him.

           “Your hair is so long,” she muses. “I’ve never seen anyone able to pull off hair like that…what’s your secret?”

           Jungkook, who you assumed would preen in the attention, hardly glances the girl’s way. His eyes rest on where Hoseok’s hand ghosts over your shoulder, slow in its retreat. Jungkook keeps a neutral expression, although his eyes shoot up to yours in a way that has you pinned to the back of the booth.

           It’s over just as quickly as it began, Jungkook grinning down at his food and mumbling, “No secret. Just good genes.” He doesn’t wait another second before diving into his food. You snort at his reply, Hoseok just shaking his head before beginning to eat in a more meticulous manner. If he noticed the strange exchange that just passed between you and Jungkook, he doesn’t say anything.

           Or maybe it was all in your head. Maybe that protective coating you applied to the papyrus earlier today has gone straight to your head, addling your brain.

           The food is delicious, as expected. The three of you fall into an easy conversation, revolving mainly around work. You notice that Jungkook keeps checking his phone, but you ignore it.

           That is, until he offers you a smug smile before focusing his attention on Hoseok.

           “So, for this gala…we’re meant to bring a plus one, right?”

           Hoseok nods. “Yep.”

           “Who’re you taking?”

           Hoseok laughs, taking a long sip of his drink. “Who? I don’t know, I feel like I should maybe take the woman I’m marrying in a few months.” He shoots you a friendly wink, but you can’t completely return his light-hearted nature. Has it already been forty minutes? But still, there’s been no call…

           “Oh,” a familiar ringtone cuts through the air, and Hoseok grabs his phone from his pocket, frowning at the screen. “It’s Joshua. I’ll just step outside for a moment.”

           Hoseok is too busy sliding out of the booth to notice the way your jaw drops. The second he’s out of sight, you turn an accusatory glare toward Jungkook. “What was that? Did you seriously tell them to call-”

           “Before you castrate me, I’d like to defend myself. Can I do that?”

           “And then I can castrate you?”

           Jungkook visibly swallows. “I only meant it hypothetically, but…just listen.” When you angrily wave for him to continue, the smug smile from earlier reappears on his face. “I have this all under control. But, from where I’m sitting, I won our little bet. So I have a question for you.”

           “I’m not going with you, Hoseok is taking me!”

           Pushing his tongue against his cheek, Jungkook sits back and observes you for a moment. “Don’t be so sure about that, sweetheart. Now, what color of dress are you wearing to this thing?”

~~

           You do your best to ignore Jungkook for the rest of the day. Hoseok chats happily with you on the walk back to the museum, occasionally finding a way to let his hand graze yours. It’s enough to keep you distracted from Jungkook’s complacent expression which is usually directed in your direction.

           Parting from Hoseok is like parting with a security blanket, and he looks to be particularly pleased with the way you run your hand down his arm before bidding him goodbye. Jungkook huffs a breath, which goes unnoticed by your betrothed as he heads into the building where countless workers wait for him.

           “I’m still waiting on an answer,” Jungkook chides a few moments later. You’re desperately trying to outpace him, annoyed when he easily keeps up.

           “You’re not getting one and we’re not going together.”

           “Didn’t I tell you that I’d take care of it? Everything. Even Hoseok.” You stop in your tracks when Jungkook jumps in front of the doors, opening one up with a flourish.

           “Jungkook.”

           “Yes, darling?” It’s infuriating how much you react to the pet name, your reddening cheeks giving you away instantly.

           “Stop.”

           Jungkook blinks, straightening up a bit as you sweep past him and head inside. When he’s silent the entire walk to the papyrus lab, you let out a sigh of relief. Never mind the fact that there’s a dull disappointment blooming in your chest. For a moment, it was nice to think of what a night at Jungkook’s side could be like.

           It would certainly be different than what you’re used to with Hoseok. Not that you two often spend occasions like this together, it’s more of a formality than anything. The first few minutes are always a dream: Hoseok can’t take his eyes off of you and gets flustered. He’s a perfect gentleman, and even goes so far as to hold you close to him when entering the event.

           However, it only takes a few minutes before he’s swept off in one direction and you the other. Collogues, board members, and possible buyers of the rare artwork on display keep you two busy and apart for the entirety of the night.

           You make to step into the prep room, ready to get back into your hazmat suit and start on the other side of the papyrus scrolls. The moment you step in, however, the thought of being stuck in such a small space with Jungkook nearly makes your lightheaded. Focus is paramount in your line of work, and Jungkook counts as a distraction.

           “Would you go around to the sculptures we worked on yesterday and make sure they’re doing ok?” You glance over your shoulder to see Jungkook freeze in the doorway. “I, uh…I never know how they’re going to respond to the added layer.”

           Jungkook has lost all of his previous swagger, simply giving you a curt nod before turning to walk away. You can’t help but watch as he briskly heads down the hallways, running his hands through his hair before fisting them at the nape.

           You jump a little as the door closes, lost in your thoughts. Rushing back to you are your mother’s words.

           “There is…more. Out there, for you.”

           The words settle for a moment before you snort, chuckling to yourself before putting one leg in the hazmat suit. “They’re both hot. So what?”

~~

           Two more days pass in a similar fashion. Jungkook is always waiting for you at the entrance to the museum, resembling an eager puppy before you shut him down with a stern look.

           Last night you spent a ridiculous amount of time coming up with errands you could send him on that wouldn’t seem too suspicious. For the most part it’s worked; you’ve been working alone for most of the day, and Jungkook hasn’t seemed too keen to intrude.

           A part of you feels a bit bad for shutting him out so much, but you really have no reason to let him in. Especially not when he was so set on taking you to the gala when you’re very clearly promised to another.

           “Does he have something against Hoseok?”

           Your question is directed to your current project, The Incoronation of the Virgin, by Jacopo di Cione.  Of course, the virgin humbly sitting with a crown on her head pays you no mind, but you carry on anyway.

           “But then again, why would he? He’s getting his job, isn’t he?” You sit back, lightly dusting at the finer details of the mural. “Oh, maybe he’s angry at me.”

           “Why would I be angry at you?”

           You gasp as you stumble back, losing your footing from where you were on a stepping stool. You gasp louder (if that’s possible) when two sturdy hands grab your waist, firmly keeping you in place.

           “Steady?”

           “Why do you keep sneaking up on me?” You seethe, stepping down and out of Jungkook’s grasp. “Did I ask you to finish cleaning the bottles we used yesterday?”

           “I finished that.”

           “And what about sweeping the work area?”

           “Done.”

           “What about-”

           “Done,” Jungkook looks like he’s considering taking another step, but stays put. “I finished everything. Now would you quit sending me away?”

           You give him a long look, noting the way his cheeks burn under your gaze. After a moment you sigh. “Yeah, fine.”

           Jungkook perks up instantly, and a second later you find him glued to your side. He gazes up at the panel you’ve been working on, his mouth dropping of its own accord.

           “Wow, it’s beautiful.”

           “Mmhm.” You head back up the step stool, getting back to work while Jungkook holds it steady. He admires the artwork, leaving you in relative peace.

           “How did you get into this stuff?” He asks from the other end of the painting. You arch a brow before furrowing it, trying to come up with a reasonable answer.

           “I…well, this is what my family does.”

           “Uh-huh.”

           “Well, I guess they tend to lean more toward the buying and selling of artwork. From my teen years I’ve always gravitated more toward the conservation of artwork.”

           “Why’s that?” The fact that he sounds genuinely interested throws you off, making you pause as you meet his curious gaze. There’s no malice in his eyes, not a hint of the annoying pride from two days prior. Just genuine interest.

           It gives you a falling sensation, which has you clinging to the stool until it passes.

           “It’s quiet. Peaceful, for the most part.”

           “But it’s stressful, too?”

           The beginnings of a smile curl at your lips. “Yes, that too.”

           A companionable silence falls between the two of you after that, allowing for you to work quickly and efficiently. Once you’re satisfied with the panel, you find Jungkook ready to hold the stool steady while you get down.

           “What about you?” The question falls from your lips before you really understand what you’re asking.

           “Me?”

           “Yeah. Why did you decide to become an apprentice? It’s a long apprenticeship. And last I checked, curating isn’t exactly a hot trend.”

           Jungkook scrunches his nose in a way that has you wondering if what you just said was somehow absolutely adorable. He certainly thinks it was.

           “Well, there are a number of reasons.” He glances sidelong at you as you gather your things to head back to the storage space. “But mainly because it felt right.”

           You frown. “That’s your reason?” Jungkook nods, amusement glittering in his eyes. “What happens when you wake up and it doesn’t feel right anymore?”

           “Why? Do you know the feeling?”

           Suddenly you know that you’re no longer talking about career choices. It’s only confirmed when Jungkook slows to a stop, hoisting up the bucket of supplies and facing you.

           “I- no, I love my job-”

           “Haven’t you ever wondered, though?” Now it’s practically impossible to decipher what exactly is going on behind Jungkook’s bright eyes, his long brown hair falling into his face. “There’s more out there, you know. Why do you stay?”

           For some reason, you’re frozen in place. A deer in the headlights, probably reading way too much into this conversation.

           “S-stay?”

           “Yeah,” Jungkook takes a small step forward, as though afraid of scaring you off. “After all this time, you’re still here. Why?”

           Your breath is caught in your throat. “I…” The world stops spinning as Jungkook tilts his head to one side, eyes swallowing you whole as they trace the outline of your lips. Despite not laying a single finger on you, your skin blazes as though he were physically reaching out.

           With a step back, you glare at the floor before taking a steeling breath. “The retirement plan’s great. Hard to pass up on.”

           The sound of your footsteps echo off the walls, listening for Jungkook to follow after you.

           He doesn’t.

~~

           “So, about the gala.” Hoseok stands in the doorway to your hotel room, tie long gone and top button loosed. It’s a rare sight, and yet it never fails to be one of your favorites. “I have a weird proposition for you.”

           You kick off your shoes, not bothering with decency as you fall back on your bed with a groan. “Shoot.”

           “Jungkook has this really prestigious cousin that’s connected to the royal family-”

           “Royal family?” You sit up, frowning at Hoseok.

           “Yeah, like the British one? I think so, at least. Anyway, I don’t remember how she’s connected but it’s a big deal. And apparently she asked for me to escort her at the gala.”

           If blood could run cold, yours is pushing freezing. “Huh. Is that so.”

           Hoseok gives you an apologetic smile. “I know it’s weird and that’s why I came to you, I don’t want to hurt you-”

           “I’ll just go by myself, it’s fine.”

           “No, no. You’re not going alone. Jungkook already offered to take you.”

           You chew on the inside of your cheek, resolve withering at the sight of Hoseok’s tentative hope. You wonder if he would really back down if you asked to go with him. To let Jungkook’s schmoozing cousin find a different date.

           “Just say the word,” Hoseok offers with a fading smile. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

           For some reason, your ears expect to hear the word darling at the end of that sentence. But they don’t, and you know exactly where you can go for that.

           More, huh?

           “That’s fine, Hoseok. Really. What’s one night?”

           Hoseok rushes forward with glee, wrapping you in his arms for a second before backing away and heading toward the door. “You’re amazing, you know that? Absolutely amazing. The guests are going to be in awe of your work.”

~~

           The guests are, unsurprisingly, oblivious to your meticulous work.

           You’re not complaining, they’re not meant to notice it. Your work is behind the scenes, whereas Hoseok’s work is visible everywhere.

           His handywork acts as a constant reminder of him, keeping you on edge as you trail up the flower-studded stairs that are already overflowing with guests. A few give you odd looks as you walk alone, but most are too preoccupied with their own problems to care much for yours.

           You don’t know how he did it, but Jungkook managed to get you all to himself after all. The thought had left an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach all day yesterday at work, hardly bothering to exchange more than a few words with the man in question. It seemed like he had almost anticipated this, content to leave you be. It was when he asked what time he should pick you up that you looked at him, angry at the fact that you immediately admired his outfit of choice. It suited him, which shouldn’t have come as such a surprise.

           “I’ll meet you there,” you had responded firmly, hopefully leaving no room for argument. “Wait for me beside the entrance.”

           It was bad enough that you were going without your betrothed; that another woman was going to be hanging off his arm all night. The last thing you wanted was to create an equally flashy arrival with his apprentice. You were by no means the most popular guests in attendance tonight, but the guarantee of countless cameras had you refraining from taking any chances.

           Now, as you make your way to the entrance, you try to not look too eager. Jungkook is nowhere to be found yet, making you frown, but movement catches your attention in the corner of your eye.

           Stepping from the shadows is Jungkook, looking like he was made for this event. The first thing you notice about him is the wistful smile he gives you, which you return before your mind catches up with what’s going on.

           He looks…immaculate. Not over-the-top, he’s wearing a fairly standard black suit with a thin black tie. Nothing too flashy, but it might as well be an original piece with the way he wears it. His hair has been carefully styled, so unlike the careless mop you’ve seen throughout this week.

           Jungkook moves toward you like a man on a mission while you remain at the top of the stairs, hardly daring to breathe.

           “Hello,” he mutters, coming to a stop before you. “You look…stunning. Absolutely stunning.”

           He doesn’t wait for a response, perhaps already knowing that your tongue has turned leaden in his presence. Jungkook offers you his arm, which you graciously take. Hopefully he doesn’t pay too much attention to the way you’re gripping his forearm for dear life.

           The two of you sweep inside, gaining easy access as you’re well acquainted with the staff. As you pass a long, tall mirror that’s flanked by sphinxes, you can’t help but glance over.

           You do look stunning.

           The red gown you wear isn’t too revealing, not too flashy, but calls attention to you just the same. No matter where you are tonight, Hoseok will be able to find you with ease. The thought fills you with a sick sort of satisfaction. He’ll see you, but he’ll see who’s arm you’re on, as well.

           With Jungkook by your side, you’re a force of nature. The two of you are no longer walking, rather prowling the premises as you make your way toward the ballroom. A few stragglers that are trying to get a peek at the closed off exhibits notice your keen eye and scamper off.

           It’s a new sensation to you, watching those people flee from before you as though you were an enemy soldier on a mission. Perhaps it has something to do with the way Jungkook appears to be smoldering beside you, emitting a dangerous aura that you never realized he could give off. For a brief moment, the silly boy you’ve been actively avoiding this week has vanished. In his wake stands a man with a purpose, the successor to the famed Jung Hoseok, and a legitimate contender amongst art dealers.

           “I’m not used to this,” you mutter as Jungkook continues in his path. His steps are timed perfectly to your own, and you wonder if that’s a mere coincidence or if he’s currently keeping count in his head.

           “Used to what?” Even his voice has turned to a dangerous rasp, smoky eyes sliding over to observe you.

           “People respecting personal space. Usual they all flock to Hoseok the second he walks in the door.”

           The corner of his lips pull up in a smirk. “And which do you prefer?”

           You sigh. “Are you seriously turning this into a competition?”

           You’re almost to the ballroom, but you let out a surprised sound when you veer off course into a deserted corridor just above the stairs that lead down into the ballroom. You realize that he’s taking you across a small overlook which shows the ballroom, a flurry of suits and dresses writhing before you on the level below. It’s a mesmerizing sight, and upon instinct you seek out Hoseok.

           Jungkook notices your search, pausing to allow you to look around a bit more. He studies your side profile carefully. “Is that such a bad thing?” It takes you a moment to realize that he’s referring to the competition.

           There’s Hoseok, sure enough he’s weaving in and out of the crowd. People smile and clap him on the back, making space for him and his companion to get through.

           Jungkook’s cousin, Margaret, stays close behind your betrothed. She even goes so far as to hold onto his hand, offering him a shy smile when he looks back at her questioningly. However, he does nothing to shake her off.

           “Yes,” you answer. Then, “He never took me along with him.”

           “You mean at events like these?” Jungkook stands beside you at the railing, eyes instantly finding the “he” you’re referring to. “I know. You two usually go your separate ways.”

           The nonchalant manner with which he comments this has you turning to face him, confusion clear on your face. “How could you know that?”

           Jungkook frowns, popping his knuckles as he refuses to look at you. “Isn’t it pretty common knowledge? You two are both prominent members of the art community that hardly have time for each other. The rest is fairly simple to figure out.”

           You step to the side, granting yourself enough space to glare up at the man.

           “Fairly simple? Jungkook, I don’t know why you think you can make assumptions about my relationship with Hoseok, but there’s no need to do so. You’re right, we’re both busy. But we’re happy. Why do you seem so intent on making me second guess that? Why is everything a competition with you?”

           You’re surprised when Jungkook doesn’t step down like he usually does. Instead he straightens up, leaning in a bit closer while his eyes bore into your own. You swallow, pressing your nails into the palm of your hand when his gaze tracks the movement of your throat.

           “Calling it a competition might be a bit crass,” Jungkook mutters, voice coming out much softer than you anticipated. “But I guess you can say that. Sure, it’s a competition. As of right now, there are no clear winners.”

           “But what are you two competing for?” You ask, exasperated. “There’s no need to go after Hoseok, Jungkook. You’re getting his position in just a few months, you’ll have the same influence he does now. I don’t understand. Why go to such great lengths? Are you trying to usurp him or something?”

           Jungkook finds a way to step impossibly closer, one hand gripping the railing while the other finds your hand. “Which would you deem more valuable: your hand in marriage or your heart?”

           Dangerous, this is dangerous, your heart chides. Despite the warning, you can’t help but sneer and step impossibly closer. There’s a spark of anger deep within you, and if it wasn’t for your current predicament you would stop for a moment and wonder when the last time you felt such an intense emotion was, but you press on.

           “I wasn’t aware that I had to choose,” you seethe. You swallow a gasp as Jungkook leans in, nose nearly bumping against yours.

           You can see whole galaxies in those eyes of his. Glinting and shining under the light of the chandelier, stars begging for you to come dance. What would happen if you danced under his stars? Something tells you that you don’t want to find out.

           “That’s not an answer,” Jungkook breathes out.

           “I’m sorry, what that not good enough for you?”

           He blinks, an amused smirk painting his features. “You’re angry. Good.”

           “Good?” You sputter out, taking a small step back and finding it infinitely easier to breathe now that there’s some distance between you two. “You wanted me to be angry?”

           Shrugging, Jungkook rolls his neck from side to side, looking casual as ever. As though you weren’t just about to bite his nose off if he were to say one more stupid thing.

           “Anger is an emotion. I count that as a win. Now,” he extends his hand out with a flourish, “shall we dance?”

           “No.”

           “I’d rethink that answer if I were you, darling.” Jungkook makes a point of looking out over the railing, and your eyes unwillingly follow his line of sight.

           There’s Hoseok, spinning Margaret around and around. His smile is wide, and you can hear his laughter from up here.

           He has no idea that you’re up here fighting for your marriage, does he?

           Again, that anger is stoked until it’s steadily consuming you. With a huff that sounds more akin to a grown, you take Jungkook’s hand.

           “One. Dance.”

~~

           One turns into two, and two turns to four. The music lilts and does almost all the work, Jungkook picking up the slack as he moves your through the songs. You can hardly tell where one ends and another begins, all you know is two things.

1.     You’re still angry, however it’s being steadily replaced by confusion.

2.     Hoseok and Margaret stopped dancing a while ago, and they currently stand off to the side trying to make it look like they’re not watching you.

“Your cousin appears to be very concerned about you,” you pant, the dancing finally taking its toll. Jungkook glances sidelong, chuckling darkly.

“That’s probably because she’s not my cousin and I told her she would only have to stay for an hour or so.”

If Jungkook’s hand at your back wasn’t propelling you forward, you’re sure you would’ve stopped dead in your tracks.

“What?”

There’s a twinkle of amusement in those galaxy-filled eyes of his. “She is connected to the royal family; I’ll give her that much. But she’s not my cousin. Just an old friend helping out with a favor.”

You’re not sure if you should laugh or cry.

After a moment, you settle for easing out of Jungkook’s grasp with the excuse to use the restroom. The sound of your heels on the marble floor is drowned out as the live band pick up a lively tune, causing a new rush of people to the dance floor. Somehow you manage to weave your way toward the hallway where you think you remember seeing a restroom sign, unaware of someone hot on your heels.

You’re reaching out for the door when you feel a hand at your elbow. It stops you mid-step, pulling you in an entirely different direction. Gasping, you whirl about to see Hoseok with a grim expression. He doesn’t utter a word, marching the two of you toward a dark corner.

“Hoseok, you scared me!” You whisper-shout, entirely unsure of why you’re whispering in the first place. Perhaps it has something to do with the secluded area he’s led you to, not a single soul in sight.

Once you’ve turned the corner, Hoseok presses your back against the wall, peeking around the corner toward the faint light of the festivities. The sound of trombones and cellos echo around the corridor, making you feel like you’re experiencing a memory rather than living this moment in real time.

When Hoseok turns back to face you, you note the way his hair is mussed. You immediately begin to smooth it out with a frown. He’s usually so meticulous about his hair during events like this.

His eyes soften a bit at your ministrations, but his face is still flushed. “Are you enjoying yourself tonight?”

“I- no…?”

“That’s odd,” Hoseok tilts his head to one side, eyes pinning you to the wall better than his hands. “You certainly look like you are.”

You blink. “I do?”

He lets out a choked laugh, the sound seeming so at odds with his typical demeanor. “Are you that oblivious? The way you’ve been staring at him all night certainly makes it seem like you’re drinking in every moment.”

“S-staring? At who?”

“Jungkook!” You flinch a little when Hoseok raises his voice, but he doesn’t notice as he pinches his eyes shut. “Just…be a little more cautious, ok?”

“I…”

When you’re silent, Hoseok opens his eyes. He lets out a shaky breath, head bobbing to one side in a habit which you’d always found endearing. Now, though, it’s as good as a death sentence as he steps a little closer. Slowly, so slowly you want to scream, his eyes dip down to your lips.

“No,” he mutters to himself, so quietly that you wonder if he doesn’t realize that he’s speaking his thoughts aloud. “Not here.”

Pushing back from the wall, Hoseok steps away and leaves you with a lingering stare before he’s disappearing around the corner. Your ears strain to listen to his retreating steps, but they’re quickly overtaken by the music and chatter of the crowd.

“What just happened?” You whisper to yourself. After a moment, you ease out of the corridor, scurrying toward the bathroom. Flinging open the stall, you stare down at the toilet wondering if you’re about to retch. With the way your stomach is churning, it’s definitely a possibility.

You emerge from the stall a moment later, feeling no better than when you went in. If only you could splash some water on your face, that would probably help clear up your head. However, you’ve still got a few hours ahead of you. The event is nowhere near ending.

The door swings open as you brace yourself against the sink, and you look up in the mirror to see who just walked in behind you. Margaret pauses for a second as she meets your eyes, the door drifting shut at her back.

“I was hoping you were still in here,” she drawls, her posh accent instantly making you want to stand up straight.

“Well, here I am.”

You wince; your voice sounds horrible. Like you’ve been screaming for hours, when you haven’t hardly said a word in the past hour. No, according to Hoseok you’ve been too busy staring.

Margaret chuckles, coming to the sink beside you and running the faucet. “Look, I’ll make this quick. Jungkook has been waiting around for you for long enough, and to be frank I’m sick of hearing about it. If I were you, I’d make up my mind sooner rather than later.”

You’re sick of asking questions, but it appears that that’s all you have for tonight. “What?” You stare at Margaret, who looks almost other-worldly in her deep blue gown. “I just met Jungkook this week, I think you’re mistaken.”

“You just- what?”

It’s nice to see that someone else looks a little confused for once. You thought you were the only one out of the loop, but judging by the look on Margaret’s face, she’s just joined the club.

“Like I said,” you say, leaning one hip against the sink. “I just met Jungkook a few days ago. Hoseok sent him over to assist me in getting everything ready for the gala.”

“But he said…” Margaret shakes her head, focusing in on you once again. “Don’t tell him I said anything to you, alright?”

Before you even have a chance to answer, Margaret is sweeping out the door and leaving you behind in a stunned stupor. Slowly, you turn to face the mirror again. Then, to your eternal horror, a toilet flushes.

Out ambles Scarlett Johansson, who shoots you a grin before promptly washing her hands. “Trouble in paradise?”

You snort, in disbelief. “Yeah. Yeah, you could say that.”

~~

It takes a while to find Jungkook, but then again that may be because you aren’t actually looking for him. No, you’re just floating around the venue in a daze when you hear his voice coming from a parlor to your right. Only a couple of dim lamps illuminate the interior, but you don’t bother to get a closer look as you recognize the other voice.

Margaret.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Jungkook? You just met her this week? You made it sound like you’ve been pining over her for years-”

“That’s because I have!” Jungkook hisses, the sound slithering out into the hallway. “I have, but she’s always just out of reach…”

“And what, you thought tonight would do the trick? Kook…look, you know I love you, but this is idiocy. She’s practically engaged to Jung Hoseok-”

“Jung Hoseok doesn’t know what he has, he’s never understood! I am the only one that really gets it, Margaret.”

“Yeah, well just because you get it Jungkook doesn’t mean you get her.”

There’s shuffling inside the room, causing you to back away into a dark corner to remain unseen. After a moment, Jungkook’s voice rings out again. This time, it’s a bit ragged, almost letting you taste the desperation in his tone.

“Margaret, please. I just- I just need time. Please, just give me more time.”

A pause, followed by a heavy sigh. “Fine. I hate you.”

“Love you, too.”

You’ve just managed to scamper around the corner when the door open and a little light floods out into the dim hallway. The sound of heels walking in the opposite direction of your hiding spot alerts you to Margaret’s retreat, making you wonder what exactly she has planned in order to allot Jungkook more time.

Once a couple of minutes that feel like eternity pass, you sneak out around the corner. Heart pounding and palms sweaty, you stare up at the ceiling as though you’ll find an answer there.

What are you even doing?

Before the answer comes you’re schooling your features into cool indifference and walking slowly toward the open door. It’s easy enough to spot Jungkook in the parlor, sitting with his head in his hands on the chaise.

You rap on the door, leaning against the doorframe as Jungkook’s head shoots up. The panic at your appearance doesn’t go unnoticed by you, but you pretend you haven’t noticed.

“I leave for two seconds and suddenly you’re sulking in an abandoned room?” You chide. “You much be more attached to me than I thought.”

Jungkook’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. I was just taking a breather. We danced a lot, didn’t we?”

“True.” You stare at him from across the room, thinking back on Margaret’s words. Jungkook has been waiting around for you for long enough. “Tell me, Jungkook,” you stride inside, taking up the seat opposite him. “How come I never ran into you before this week? You’ve been around Hoseok for nearly three years at this point, haven’t you?”

Jungkook nods, his wide eyes completely disintegrating the dangerous persona he radiated earlier. “Yeah, almost three years. We’ve…crossed paths a few times, I think.”

You frown. “We have?”

“Only a handful of times,” Jungkook quickly reassures you, and the fact that he doesn’t want you to feel bad about not remembering him has you only growing more confused. Didn’t you just hate him half an hour ago? “We never spoke much.”

“Oh.”

Words – none of which amount to full sentences – rattle around your brain as you strive to come up with something more to say. Your brain is breaking down, information overload finally getting the best of you.

“Should we go back?” Jungkook asks in a small voice. Who even is the man, to change demeanors so quickly? “There’s still a lot of dancing left to do.” He adds a wink in at the end, regaining a bit of his swagger with every word.

Suddenly the memory of Hoseok’s conflicted face comes back to you, and you scramble to your feet. “No! Uh, I mean…” you look around the room but find nothing to help you. “I need to be more careful. I’ve been careless enough tonight.”

Jungkook frowns, almost getting on his feet. “What’s wrong? Did…did Hoseok say something to you?” When you don’t respond, Jungkook lets out a dry laugh. “Of course he did. Let me guess, he grabbed you as soon as you left my side, right? Jealous little-”

“Jungkook!” You gasp, stalking out of the room as he follows close behind. “He just wanted to protect our image, that’s all.”

“Ha! Really, that’s all? Sweetheart, has anyone ever told you just how oblivious you can be?”

“Ugh, just when I was starting to hate you less.”

“I’m serious! Sure, he might have said something about being careful, for your reputations. But that’s all just a cover-up! Can’t you see?”

The ballroom is just up ahead, and you make a beeline for it. “I see just fine, thank you very much. However, I wish I could’ve seen just how horrible tonight would be with you! I would have never agreed to that stupid bet!”

Speeding up, Jungkook jogs up in front of you to block your path. You step to your right, which he mimics. To the left, and again, he’s there to stop you.

“Let me through!”

Jungkook glares down at you, a fire blazing in his eyes. It reminds you of a dying star, some sort of supernova exploding in those galaxy irises. “No.”

“No?” You push against his chest, scowling when he doesn’t budge. “Jungkook, I’m too tired to play this game. Move aside.”

“Dance with me.”

He says it with such seriousness that you almost agree. “I already said that I can’t.”

“Please.” Bottom lip disappearing between his teeth, Jungkook’s shoulders slump. “C’mon, we’ll go where no one can see us.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

Chuckling half-heartedly, Jungkook extends a hand. “I have plenty of them, trust me.”

~~

What started as one bad idea has turned into multiple.

Jungkook took you outside to some lonely balcony that wraps around the building. The doors are thrust open, allowing for some light as he takes you in his arms.

The music drifts up to where you sway, and you wonder how Jungkook even found this spot. It’s not far from the ballroom, but certainly not a common spot for people to wander off to. You ask him as much.

“I stumbled upon it when you sent me on all those dumb errands,” he explains, smiling lazily at you.

You chuckle, stifling a gasp as Jungkook spins you around. Once you’re nestled safely in his arms, you grin up at him. “I knew those would come in handy.”

It feels like whiplash, going through so many emotions tonight. You were set on loathing Jungkook for the rest of eternity until he managed to snag one of the chocolate fountains from the kitchens and bring it out here. A platter of strawberries sits off to the side, begging to be dipped and eaten.

“Strawberry?” Jungkook questions quietly, already reaching for one. You hum in confirmation.

A second later Jungkook is dipping it with an absurd amount of chocolate and bringing it to your lips. Your cheeks flush, but you tentatively open your mouth, awaiting the delicious-

“Hey!” You swat at Jungkook when he bops your nose with the strawberry, covering you in chocolate. He laughs merrily, throwing his head back at the stars before focusing on you.

“You look adorable,” he coos. “Here, eat.” Again he prods the strawberry at your lips, catching your hand in his as you go to clean off your nose. “Eat, I’ll get the chocolate off your nose in just a second. Patience.”

You roll your eyes, but allow him to feed the strawberry to you. At the first crunch and flood of sweet flavor, you close your eyes and ball up your fists into his suit jacket.

“Ah, so good.”

When you open your eyes again, Jungkook is frozen before you. His eyes alight on your lips, tongue wetting his own, following the way you lick up the extra chocolate. Then he looks at your nose, a forgotten smile on his face.

“Here,” he mumbles, reaching out to swipe the bit of chocolate from your nose. Without a second’s hesitation he brings it to his lips and devours it.

All is quiet. The music sounds more distant that ever, the dull chatter of tonight’s guests hardly registering in your brain as Jungkook’s eyes never leave your own.

Something stirs deep within you, something that goes much deeper than attraction or desire. Something stronger than the anger you felt earlier sparks in the pit of your chest, making you shiver.

The spot where Jungkook touched your nose tingles, and you wonder for a moment if it somehow looks different now. His touch lingers, the feeling sprouting something entirely new.

Jungkook continues to sway with you, the movement as singular as breathing. When he opens his mouth to whisper something to you, you can’t help but listen to every syllable that falls from his lips.

“I…I want you to feel when you’re with me,” he whispers. “I’m not picky. It can be any emotion. But I’ve seen you, how you are with him.” You flinch at the mention of Hoseok, but Jungkook holds you tighter and pushes through. “You’re empty around him. You play the game easily enough, but there’s nothing behind those words. I want you to feel.”

“Jungkook…”

“I know. I know how I sound. But this is all I have to give you, and I thought that if I could just get you to feel something again, it might be worth it.”

You find yourself drawing closer to him, some sort of unknown gravity pulling you together like a moon caught in his orbit. That’s what you are, aren’t you? Completely helpless, thrown into someone’s orbit and hoping that they notice you. Hasn’t that the way it’s always been, ever since you first laid eyes on Hoseok?

But Jungkook notices you. You know, just from the way his eyes widen as though trying to take more of you in, you know that you’re all he sees. He’s blinded, for some reason or another. Blinded by you, enthralled by your silent suffering and digging ceaselessly for a way out. There’s no doubt in your mind at this moment that he’d carry you far away from here if you just said the word.

How your hands wound up clinging to the nape of his neck, you’re not sure. Just as surprising is the painful tone of your voice as you cry out, "Jungkook, this is no way to live."

His hands are at your back, pressing you closer and closer. "I will live like this for as long as you want, darling.”

“Like what?” Are those tears rushing to your eyes? Too many emotions in such a short amount of time, you can’t keep up. It’s been so long since you’ve felt anything so intense. When was the last time? Perhaps there never was a time such as this. “Hiding away from everyone? Looking over your shoulder every second of every day, wondering when it’ll all fall apart?”

“I can live off of these stolen moments,” Jungkook whispers in awe, gently wiping away your tears. “I’ve been doing that for years. But I don’t know what you want, darling. Tell me what you want.”

“Jungkook,” you wriggle in his grasp, suddenly needing to get away, to breathe, “Jungkook, he’ll find out- we can’t do this. What even is this? I can’t…I don’t even know you!”

He lets you go, allowing you walk toward the edge of the balcony as you greedily gulp down air. After a moment, he speaks up.

“You’re feeling again, aren’t you?”

It’s a silly question. It sounds like he’s addressing a child, but it hits a little too close to home.

Feelings, thoughts, desperation and something deep and exciting courses through you. Yes. Yes, you’re feeling. “Yes. But who says I can’t feel with him?”

Jungkook is silent for a moment. “Who says it can’t be me, instead?” He strides toward you, your heart hammering as he gently cups your cheeks. Stars must cry because his eyes are shiny with tears. Gently, so gently your knees nearly buckle, he caresses your cheek with his thumb.

Smiling sadly, Jungkook whispers, “I love you.” He takes a shaky breath. “I always have. From afar, so I don’t know if that counts in your book. I loved you before we shared a conversation. I loved you the second I first overheard you talking to that unnamed painting on the third floor of the gallery back home. You know the one, don’t you?”

You’re not sure he fully expects an answer as he leans closer, which is all the better as you’re completely unable to provide him with one.

“I love you,” he repeats, wide eyes dropping to your lips. “I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I wake up to you every morning.”

As his lips first graze your own, you remember him.

Countless times, that how often you’ve seen him. Passed him in the hallway of the gallery, trailing behind a busy Hoseok. Offering you a shy, sweet smile which you immediately assumed was meant for someone else.

He seemed to good, too kind for you.

But here he is, lips pressed gently to yours with a promise hanging in the air.

He asks for nothing in return.

When he finally pulls away, you gaze up at him with teary eyes. “Why?”

He knows what you’re asking. Why would he bare his heart and soul to you when he knows you’re promised to another? When you’ve never acknowledged his existence before?

Jungkook shrugs, then leans in for a short peck. He pulls back, allowing you to see the stars in his eyes.

“You deserved to hear it, at least once.”

~~

Two Months Later

You have not heard those three words since, and you wonder if you ever will again. Glancing at Hoseok who peers down into the glass case, you don’t think you will. Hoseok will never love you.

He has you. He always has, you’ve been a constant in his life. What’s there to love about convenience?

He’s saying something to the jeweler, but the words are muffled. That’s how it’s been recently. People talk so much, but you hardly hear a thing. They so rarely say anything that matters.

Jungkook has been gone, still working to replace Hoseok, but off on business trips that you know aren’t necessary. Last you heard, Hoseok had sent him off to Mongolia on a wild goose chase for some long-lost painting. Chances are he wouldn’t be back for months.

Staring at the rings below you, you know that by then, it’ll be too late.

Hoseok is planning on proposing soon. You’re not exactly sure when, but it’ll be within a few weeks now. Perhaps sooner, you can’t tell.

When you leave the jeweler’s, Hoseok’s hand finds yours. He gives it a soft squeeze, but you can’t find quite enough strength to reciprocate the feeling.

He doesn’t comment on it.

In fact, the two of you hardly exchange two words until much later that evening when you dine together. It’s in his parent’s mansion, one of several. This is the one you’re meant to inherit upon getting married. The dining room is a bit too dark for your liking, but under the current circumstances, you bask in the shadows.

Hoseok is late to dinner. An uncommon thing, but you brush it off, quietly greeting him as he takes up his place across from you. When he doesn’t respond, you look up.

He’s already staring at you, but that’s not what sends a chill through your bones.

He’s looking at you with that sniper-like concentration that you only saw once before. It’s terrifying to be on the other side of that gaze; something you had hoped to never encounter.

“What’s wrong?” You mean to sound more caring, but the question comes out flat. Hoseok chews on his lip before releasing it.

He’s kissed you since the gala. He did as soon as the two of you boarded the plane, away from prying eyes.

It had been rushed and desperate, and you’d been shocked into stepping back, breaking the kiss sooner than he intended.

You’d stepped back and bumped into Jungkook, who gently caught you. Hoseok merely smiled warmly and explained that he thought you two were alone. Jungkook didn’t say a word.

Hoseok holds up a letter, unfolding it. “You received a letter today,” he responds. “Would you like me to read it to you?”

You frown, reaching out a hand but he’s too far away. “No, I’ll read it later-”

“My darling, I only just now found a post office that sends international letters. I apologize from the bottom of my heart, I hope you didn’t think I’d forgotten you.” Hoseok peeks at you from over the letter, arching an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me you enjoyed pet names. Let’s see what else my apprentice has to say, shall we?”

“Hoseok-”

“Hold that thought,” Hoseok pulls a candle that burns in the center of the table closer to him, hovering the letter just above the flame. “Let’s continue. Something tells me that we’re just getting to the good part.”

“I hope this letter finds you before the wedding, although I can’t be sure. This post office looks a little sketchy, but it’s my best bet. Love, I told you once that I could live off of stolen moments. I can, I do. But I’m tired of begged and borrowed time at your side. Once was not enough.”

“How sweet. I never realized he had such a way with words.” Hoseok sighs wistfully, making you shudder.

“Run away with me, darling. Meet me in Italy, at the gallery. Come up with any excuse you possibly can – just find me. I’ll try to do my best to find a way out of this place, and I’ll wait for you every day. From open to close, I’ll be there. If you don’t come by the end of April, I’ll know that you decided to go forward with the marriage and I wish you all the happiness in the world. Just don’t forget: I love you. Wow, that was beautiful, wasn’t it? Who knew Jungkook was such a poet?”

Hoseok sighs again, meeting your horrified gaze. In one swift movement, he lets the bottom corner of the letter catch the flame. Smoke curls into the air, and you scramble to your feet.

“Hoseok!” You lunge for the letter, knocking over the candle in the process. With a shriek, you watch as the candle drops to the rug and catches fire. Rushing over, you begin to stomp out the flames.

“Let it burn,” Hoseok mumbles, still staring at the burning letter in his hands. “I always wanted to burn this house to the ground. It seems fitting to do so now.”

“You’ve lost your mind!” You shout, turning toward him once the rug is extinguished and snapping the letter from his hands. The flames bite as your fingertips, the letter unsalvageable. Hissing, you throw it into the fireplace.

“You know what?” Hoseok rises to his feet. “I think I will burn it down. Maybe move into one of those cramped apartments in the city. What do you think?”

“Hoseok, you’re not thinking straight. Let’s talk about this.”

His smile is melancholy, but for a moment his eyes clear up and you catch a glimpse of the Hoseok you’ve known for twelve years.

“Don’t you have packing to do?” With a shrug he adds, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“I-“ you stop mid-step. A series of choices flash before your eyes, but all you can see if Hoseok and the out he’s offering you.

Perhaps he wants to get out of this as much as you do.

As you pound up the stairs and begin to throw anything you can find into your bag, you realize that you may never know. You never did get to know the real Hoseok. His thoughts and inner feelings have remained a mystery to you.

When you rush out the door a few minutes later, Hoseok is already leaning against his car. There’s another car parked beside it, and he tosses you the keys. There are no parting words, no longing stares as he marches forward and strikes a match against the side of the house. Without fanfare, he tosses the flame inside the mansion. You watch with unabashed awe as he strides back to his car and hops in. There’s a small bag in the back, certainly not enough to hold his precious belongings.

Hoseok gives you a curt nod, tearing out of the driveway.

You’re gone before the sound of sirens cuts through the air.

~~

The Accademia Gallery is packed today, more so than you’ve ever seen it before. Of course, the main attraction is The David. Tourists crowd around, trying to find the best angle to take a photo, grinning widely.

All of them except for one, who stares up at the sculpture with a keen eye. His dark brown hair is shorter than it was a few months ago when he stood in a similar position.

“Jungkook!”

Somehow, amidst the din of the crowd, he hears you. The stars in his eyes are bright as he turns around, acting as a beacon as you push through the crowd. They gleam and sparkle, rivaled only by the wide smile that overtakes his features. Those eyes, so dangerous yet so lovely. They invite you to get lost in them, to dance under Jungkook’s galaxy.

This time, you think you will.

~~

main masterlist || Help support me? ko-fi

this was a wild ride, lemme tell ya

taglist: @baepsaetay @dreamcatcherjiah @kookie-vuitton @thecaffeinatedscribbles @moon-write @fangirl125reader @heishichoulevi @knjkitten @sacha-cff @vik7797  @eusticenatalie @hesmyphenominiall @miriamxsworld​ @kayahay @secretlycrazyhummingbird @marianeamine @hqtetsurou @protontippens @beginwithamin @limiworld   @jeonyoongi-jimin @buttvi​

#bts arranged marriage au #jungkook arranged marriage au #Hoseok arranged marriage au #jungkook x reader #hobi x reader #bts angst #bts fluff #bts oneshot #jungkook oneshot #hobi oneshot #hyunglinenetwork #armywriterssupport #armyadvocatesaapi #bts x y/n #jungkook x y/n #hobi x y/n

[icollectyoursins]

Bruno Headcanons x Reader SFW + NSFW

Anon_From_Hell on AO3 said: “Okay I have several.... not request but more of ideas? Feel free to use them or ignore them. Jotaro being topped by reader? With dick or a strap? Bruno! Bruno headcanons.”

I have had a bit of this written since I started this blog, I just never had enough to it, so I’m glad someone asked for this because Bruno is one of my favourite characters and he deserves the world.

Link to the Bottom!Jotaro here

Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!

Looking for more? Master post here!

WARNINGS: Light mentions of protectiveness, gentle Bruno for the most part, dates to the museum, restaurant dates, descriptions of dicks, fingering, mentions of shibari or tying partners up, eating ass, eating pussy, oral in general, spit roast, stand fucking, breeding, pregnancy kink, pegging/fucking Bruno, praise kink (giving), spanking, public sex, sexting.

Word Count: 2387

SFW

Where do I start? He’s a gentleman, of course, especially when he first meets you. He’s not very obvious with his crush on you, but a few can notice that his stare lingers just a little bit longer than usual and his hand hovers in the air for a millisecond after you’ve touched it during an exchange.

Bruno is hesitant to start a relationship with you. His line of work is dangerous, both of you know this, but he really does not want you to get caught up in something you shouldn’t be. It would take a lot of coaxing from you and from members of the group to push him into being comfortable with it. 

Once he does, he’s exceptionally gentle, lightly brushing his hand against yours while you’re walking together before grabbing. During conversations, he’ll put his hand on your back. He won’t show it, but he’s ecstatic about having someone to touch; someone to smile at him with romantic love, not just the usual respectful ones he gets from strangers or gang members. Sweet smiles. It makes him feel so loved.

He is so protective of you. He knows his boys can be a little on the rougher side, so he’s made sure they will all treat you with the utmost respect. Especially when he’s around.

I can’t see him lashing out at you unless you do something really stupid like getting yourself hurt or saying something that sets him off which usually only happens when he’s exhausted. Remind him that you don’t deserve to be yelled at or apologize and he’ll usually do the same. But, for the most part, he’s very relaxed with you.

He’s a busy man, but he schedules everything he does in his day down to the minute. Bruno is impeccable with his organization. He’ll always make sure he has time for you, even if it means pushing things around and bending the rules a bit. He wants to make sure you know that he’s there. He may be busy, but he will always have time for you.

For some reason, I can see him taking you to art galleries or museums for dates. Holding your hand while the two of you walk around admiring the different pieces. If you know anything about something he will gladly listen! Patiently watching you light up about the cute trollop fossil or how beautifully that flower is in that kind of paint and how you would have done this or that to add to it. 

Of course, Bruno will also take you on romantic dates to restaurants overlooking the canal with some of the best food you have ever had, but I think he prefers dates that keep you physically close to him, where he can hold your hand instead of sitting across from you.

He also buys you jewelry, fancy clothes and perfume/cologne. Nothing too over the top, but subtle things that have more meaning to them than flashiness. He’s more likely to get a simple ring with 2 or 3 smaller stones than a giant one that screams attention.

He pays extra attention to the things you look at in stores and has mastered what your “oh, that’s nice” face looks like compared to your “I need to have this, but-” face and will buy whatever you really wanted behind your back, giving them to you as a gift later on when you’ve forgotten about it.

Further into the relationship when you two have moved in, he’ll often wrap his arms around you while you’re cooking, resting his head on your shoulder, or on your back if you’re taller, leaving light butterfly kisses where ever his face is.

I think out of all the adults in Bucci Gang, he’s the most likely to help you with dinner without having to be prompted. Bruno has a sixth sense for when you need him to help, suddenly popping up beside you and cutting vegetables or stirring the pot, giving you a sweet knowing smile whenever you look over. Though, on the weekends, he’s more likely to produce a glass of wine for the two of you while you cook which leads to someone getting tipsier than the other and being kicked out of the kitchen because they’ve knocked over their glass one too many times.

When you’re on the couch, he’ll call you over into his arms or sometimes just pull you into him. He prefers reading a nice book to watching a movie but will sit with you, book in one hand while his other hand plays with your hair or rubs your back. 

Oh, and don’t even get me started on baths together. He installed what is essentially a jacuzzi in your bathroom just so the two of you would have room to be comfortable. Now, the only time you take baths is when you’re together.

Please give this man a massage. He is very stressed and tense, he needs someone to treat him with the same tenderness he gives you. Bruno isn’t one to melt, but he will relax considerably. He’s just more into making you feel good than himself feeling good.

Bruno’s kisses are so sweet. I don’t know how else to describe them. It’s like every ounce of his love and care towards you is put into a spell, which is then put onto his lips and then onto your lips. You never get tired of it. He’s not overly kissy in public, mostly just pecks on the cheek or your hand. In private though, he’s a little more relaxed. 

Favourite places to kiss are usually your lips or neck and shoulder, which often leaves goosebumps down your back and sometimes other things. I honestly don’t think he’s that much into sex. Like, he’ll do it (and well) but I think romance and companionship are more important to him than anything else. If he can trust you, why does he need to do anything else? Your love is more than enough for him.

NSFW

6 1/2″, 2″ thick and pretty. His dick is just... pretty, like the rest of him. I think clean-shaven, uncut maybe?

Alright, look, he’s stand isn’t called Sticky Fingers for no reason. Bruno has been blessed with the magic that is fingering. Just knows exactly where to curl into, where to push, where to pull, swirl, rub, you name it! If you have a vagina he will make you cum multiple times before he fucks you. You know what? Even if you have a dick, he’ll probably do the same. OR he’ll get you really close and then deny, deny, deny. He loves making you writhe and squirm. 

If he makes you cry, he’s a little concerned, but deep down he’s proud of himself. Will always ask you if you’re okay and if you want to continue unless you have already established you’re okay with him making you a complete mess. Maybe he’ll even ask you to wear eyeliner or mascara just to make it run!

This man eats pussy/ass like it’s his last meal. Oral in general is one of his favourite things to do to a partner because he can control it and clearly tell how much you’re enjoying something.

Will 1000% tie you up or use Sticky Fingers to keep you from moving too much. Loves to see you wrapped up in red ropes or silk, unable to move or think because of how much he’s teasing you.

On his more relaxed days, he’ll just use his hands to hold you down or guilt you into staying still. “You want to be good for me, right, cara/caro?”

He loves it when you lose control and clamp (or try to) your legs around him. When you grab his hair and lurch forward to try and encourage him to do more; give you more, but he never does. Not until he wants to.

Oof, but his favourite guilty pleasure? Spit roast with Sticky Fingers. SF eating you out while you try to focus on taking Bruno’s cock in your mouth. Oh, to have you sandwiched in between him and his stand. He would kill to keep you there forever; fucking in and out of you like a seesaw or forcing you to do it yourself.

     Bruno bit his finger to try and keep composure as your eyes rolled back into your head, mouth agape on his length. You looked so pretty like this; visibly fucked out of your mind with his hands tangled in your mess of hair. Sticky Fingers had been lapping over your now soaking wet hole and clit for what felt like ages. Keeping you just on edge. You couldn’t decide what you wanted more, to please Bruno or cum before he wanted you to.

     Sticky Fingers pulled you closer to it’s lips while Bruno thrust his hips forward into the warmth of your mouth, eyelids fluttering as you moaned around him. After a few more minutes, he decided he’d give you your reward finally.

     “Turn around, dolcezza. Come here.” You less than gracefully turned around, feeling some sort of way about not having the constant feeling of his stand on you. Bruno grabs your hips and pulls you onto his aching cock. Both of you moan with the new feeling. “Now, just stay nice and still for me, I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.”

Can we say breeding kink? Yes, yes we can. We all know he’s nasty. He loves filling you up, feeling his seed drip out of you, cleaning it out of you with his tongue. Fucking anything. And if he does get you pregnant? (Assuming there would be no repercussions with the whole mafia thing) He would 100% take the best care of you. Bruno would massage every bit of you, giving you nice soothing baths (I mean, he’d do that anyway, but he’d put extra care into your baths when you were pregnant.)

No matter what size your baby bump was, he would kiss it every moment he got. He’d sing songs to it or read it stories (which you would be more than happy about because that voice).

The thought of you expanding with something the two of you created is so hot to him. Bruno would keep you like that forever if he could. Oh, and the feeling of him inside of you while you’re so full. Oh. He’s drooling. Just looking down on your nice, round belly and then pounding into you. *chefs kiss.* We stan breeding kink Bruno.

Oh, but let’s turn the tables. Fucking his ass. Oooooh, hell yeah. Slowly pressing into him while tying his hands behind his back or above his head. It makes me feel so many things.

I think he likes to stay on the dominant side with a vagina-having S/O, so he’d likely flip the tables if you allow him to. If you are into being more dominant, he is more than happy to stay under you (figuratively and literally.)

On his more relaxed days, or on days when you’re feeling a little down on yourself, expect SO much praise from this man in the bedroom. He’s gonna kiss every inch of you, caress you. This man will do everything to make you feel better about yourself.

Spanking. Would you let this man smack your ass? I would. On his more stern days, he will 100% flip you over his knee and make you count. If you’re into being on top, though, smack his ass. The biggest blush will sprawl across his face. Oh, and then making him count. God, he gets so loud!

     A loud crack on your ass echoed throughout the room. You gripped the pillow in front of you, burying your face in the plush thing to quiet your moans. Bruno tutted above you.

     “You have to count, dear.” His voice was stern and threatening. “Count with my, (Y/N).”

     You poked your head up from the pillow, whimpering. Suddenly, the pillow was pulled away from you and his arm reached across to the opposite shoulder, holding you up. Another smack.

     “One.” 

     You whimpered again, then stuttered out: “o-one.”

     SMACK! 

     “Two.”

     “~Uuuhnn. Two.”

     SMACK!

     “Three.”

     “~Brunoooo,” you moaned out, unable to say anything else. He let out a sound of disapproval. 

     “Oh, cara. That’s not how you count. We’ll have to start over again. Weren’t you taught this in school?” He chided. You could only muster up a quiet whine, mentally cursing this man for having so much power over you, but still-SMACK!- you loved him.

Public sex is something he’ll never openly admit is a turn on, at least not to the gang or anyone else who isn’t his partner. Oh, but brush up against his chest and “accidentally” grope him or lightly tap his ass while passing behind him and he’ll do the anime thing where their eyes go completely dark. Nothing makes him more sexually frustrated than being interrupted by you touching him during a conversation. 

He’ll usually find a closet to hide you two in and then he’ll give you hell in the form of lots and lots of edging. Sticky Fingers, of course, has your mouth zipped closed the entire time, so as much as you want to scream you can’t. 

Sometimes he’ll stick half of you in the other side of the zipper and just kind of use you like that. Doesn’t matter what end, though he does have a soft spot for fucking your throat.

Since we’re talking about zippers. Yeah, I’m saying it. It’s been done to death, but I can’t get enough of it. Zipping off his dick and leaving it in you all day. It’s practical (when in a fight. He doesn’t need to worry about getting sacked if he doesn’t have anything there!), it’s easy, he gets to feel your tight walls around him all day, you get to feel him rub up against every sweet spot in you. Literally no downside. Unless you have to go to the bathroom.

Bruno won’t admit it, but he saved all the pictures you send him in skimpy clothes, lingerie, naked, etc. on multiple devices. Just in case he’s ever at work and needs something to relieve the tension, or on a job in a hotel, or in the bathroom. You get the point.

#bruno x reader #jojo bruno #bruno buccellati #bruno bucciarati #bruno bucellati x reader #bruno bucciarati x reader #bruno x reader n/sfw #bruno x reader n/s/f/w #bruno x reader not sfw #bruno buccellati x reader n/sfw #bruno buccellati x reader n/s/f/w #bruno buccellati x reader not sfw #bruno bucciarati x reader n/sfw #bruno bucciarati x reader n/s/f/w #bruno bucciarati x reader not sfw #bruno buccerati x reader n/sfw #burno buccerati x reader n/s/f/w #bruno buccerati x reader not sfw #bruno buccerati x reader #bruno buccerati #I really miss bruno after writing all of this #he was so good #bruno prompts #not sfw

[flufffysocks]

let's talk about andi mack's worldbuilding

sorry this took forever to make! i've been pretty busy with school stuff and i kind of lost my inspiration for a bit, but i ultimately really enjoyed writing it! i wish i could've included more pics (tumblr has a max of 10 per post), and it kinda turned from less of a mini analysis to more of an extremely long rant... but i hope it's still a fun read!

i've been rewatching the show over the past few weeks (thanks again to @disneymack for the link!), and i’ve been noticing a lot that i never did the first time around. this is really the first time i’ve watched the show from start to finish since it aired, and it honestly feels so different this time - probably a combination of the fact that i’m not as focused on plot and can appreciate the show as a whole, and also that the fandom is much, much smaller now, so there’s a lot less noise. so the way i’m consuming this show feels super different than it did the first time, but the show itself doesn’t - it’s just as warm and comforting to me as it was the first time around, if not more so.

i think a lot of that can be attributed to andi mack’s “worldbuilding”. i’m not quite sure that this is the right word in this context, to be honest, because i mostly see it used in reference to fantasy and sci-fi universes, but it just sort of feels right to me for andi mack, because you can really tell how much love and care went into constructing this universe. for clarity, worldbuilding is “the process of creating an imaginary world” in its simplest sense. there’s two main types: hard worldbuilding, which involves inventing entire universes, languages, people, cultures, places, foods, etc. from scratch (think “lord of the rings” or “dune”), and soft worldbuilding, in which the creators don’t explicitly state or explain much about the fictional universe, but rather let it’s nature reveal itself as the story progresses (think studio ghibli films). andi mack to me falls in the soft worldbuilding category. even though it takes place in a realistic fiction universe, there’s a lot of aspects to it that are inexplicably novel in really subtle ways.

so watching the show now, i’ve noticed that the worldbuilding comes primarily from two things - setting and props, and oftentimes the both of them in tandem (because a big part of setting in filmmaking does depend on the props placed in it!).

one of the most obvious examples is the spoon. it really is a sort of quintessential, tropic setting in that it's the main gang's "spot", which automatically gives it a warm and homey feel to it. and its set design only amplifies this:

the choice to make it a very traditional 50s-style diner creates a very nostalgic, retro feel to it, which is something that's really consistent throughout the show, as you'll see. from the round stools at the bar, to the booths, to the staff uniforms, this is very obvious. the thing that i found especially interesting about it though is the choice of color. the typical 50s diner is outfitted with metallic surfaces and red accented furnishings, but the spoon is very distinctly not this.

instead, it's dressed in vibrant teal and orange, giving it a very fresh and modern take on a classic look. so it still maintains that feeling of being funky and retro, but that doesn't retract from the fact that the show is set distinctly in modern times.

of course, this could just be a one-off quirky set piece, but this idea of modernizing and novelizing "retro" things is a really common motif throughout the show. take red rooster records. i mean, it's a record shop - need i say more? it's obviously a very prominent store in shadyside, at least for the main characters, but there's no apparent reason why it is (until season 2 when bowie starts working there, and jonah starts performing there). a lot of the time, though, it functions solely as a record shop. vinyl obviously isn't the most practical or convenient way of listening to music, but it's had its resurgence in pop culture even in the real world, mostly due to its aesthetic value, so it's safe to say that it serves the same purpose in the andi mack universe.

the fringe seems to be nostalgic of a different era, specifically the Y2K/early 2000s period (because it's meant to be bex's territory and symbolic of who she used to be, and its later transformation into cloud 10 is representative of her character arc, but that's beside the point). to be honest, exactly what this store was supposed to be always confused me. it was kind of a combination party store/clothing store/makeup store/beauty parlor? i think that's sort of the point of it though, it's supposed to feel very grunge-y and chaotic (within the confines of a relatively mellow-toned show, of course), and it's supposed to act as a sort of treasure chest of little curios that both make the place interesting and allow the characters to interact with it.

and, of course, there's andi shack. this is really the cherry on top of all of andi mack's sets, just because it's so distinctly andi. it serves such amazing narrative purpose for her (ex. the storyline where cece and ham were going to move - i really loved this because it highlights its place in the andi mack universe so well, and i'm a sucker for the paper cranes shot + i'm still salty that sadie's cranes didn't make it into the finale) and it's the perfect reflection of andi's character development because of how dynamic it is (the crafts and art supplies can get moved around or switched out, and there's always new creations visible).

going back to the nostalgia motif though, the "shack" aspect of it always struck me as very treehouse-like. personally, whenever i think of treehouses, there's this very golden sheen of childhood about it, if that makes sense. i've always seen treehouses in media as a sort of shelter for characters' youthful innocence and idealistic memories. for example, the episode "up a tree" from good luck charlie, the episode "treehouse" from modern family, and "to all the boys 2" all use a treehouse setting as a device to explore the character's desire to hold onto their perfect image of their childhood (side note: this exact theme is actually explored in andi mack in the episode "perfect day 2.0"!). andi shack is no exception to this, but it harnesses this childhood idealism in the same way that it captures the nostalgia of the 50s in the spoon, or the early 2000s in the fringe. it's not some image of a distant past being reflected through that setting; it's very present, and very alive, because it reflects andi as she is in the given moment.

some honorable mentions of more one-off settings include the ferris wheel (from "the snorpion"), the alley art gallery (from "a walker to remember"), SAVA, the color factory (from "it's a dilemna"), and my personal favorite, the cake shop (from "that syncing feeling").

[every time i watch this episode i want to eat those cakes so bad]

these settings have less of a distinctly nostalgic feel (especially the color factory, which is a very late 2010s, instagram era setting), but they all definitely have an aura of perfection about them. andi mack is all about bright, colorful visuals, and these settings really play to that, making the andi mack universe seem really fun and inviting, and frankly very instagrammable (literally so, when it comes to the color factory!).

props, on the other hand, are probably a much less obvious tool of worldbuilding. they definitely take up less space in the frame and are generally not as noticeable (i'm sure i'll have missed a bunch that will be great examples, but i'm kind of coming up with all of this off the top of my head), but they really tie everything together.

for example, bex's box, bex's polaroid, and the old tv at the mack apartment (the tv is usually only visible in the periphery of some shots, so you might not catch it at first glance) all complement that very retro aesthetic established through the settings (especially the polaroid and the tv, because there's really no good reason that the characters would otherwise be using these).

besides this, andi's artistic nature provides the perfect excuse for plenty of colorful, crafty props to amplify the visuals and the tone. obviously, as i discussed before, andi shack is the best example of this because it's filled with interesting props. but you also see bits of andi's (and other people's) crafts popping up throughout the show (ex. the tape on the fridge in the mack apartment, andi's and libby's headbands in "the new girls", walker's shoes, andi's phone case, and of course, the bracelet). not only does doing this really solidify this talent as an essential tenet of andi's character, but it also just makes the entirety of shadyside feel like an extension of andi shack. the whole town is a canvas for her crafts (or art, depending on how you want to look at it. i say it's both), and it immensely adds to shadyside's idealism. because who wouldn't want to live in a world made of andi mack's creations?

and, while it's not exactly a prop, the characters' wardrobe is undoubtedly a major influence on the show's worldbuilding. true to it's nature as a disney channel show, all of the characters are always dressed in exceptionally curated outfits of whatever the current trends are, making the show that much more visually appealing. i won't elaborate too much on this, because i could honestly write a whole other analysis on andi mack's fashion (my favorites are andi's and bex's outfits! and kudos to the costume designer(s) for creating such wonderful and in-character wardrobes!). but, i think it's a really really important aspect of how the show's universe is perceived, so it had to be touched upon.

[^ some of my favorite outfits from the show! i am so obsessed with andi's jacket in the finale, and i aspire to be at bex's level of being a leather jacket bisexual]

and lastly, phones. this is a bit of an interesting case (pun intended), because the way they're used fluctuates a bit throughout the show, but i definitely noticed that at least in the first season terri minsky tried to avoid using them altogether. these efforts at distancing from modern tech really grounds the show in it's idealist, nostalgia-heavy roots, so even when the characters start using their phones more later in the show, they don't alter the viewer's impression of the andi mack universe very much.

so, what does all of this have to do with worldbuilding? in andi mack's case, because it's set in a realistic universe and not a fantasy one, a lot of what sets it apart from the real world comes down to tone. because, as much as this world is based on our own, it really does feel separate from it, like an alternate reality that's just slightly more perfect than ours, which makes all the difference. it's the idealism in color and composition in andi mack's settings that makes it so unmistakably andi mack. even the weather is always sunny and perfect (which is incredibly ironic because the town is called shadyside - yes, i am very proud of that observation).

the andi mack universe resides somewhere in this perfect medium that makes it feel like a small town in the middle of nowhere (almost like hill valley in 1955 from "back to the future"), but at the same time like an enclave within a big city (because of its proximity to so many modern, unique, and honestly very classy looking establishments). it is, essentially, an unattainable dream land that tricks you into believing it is attainable because it's just real enough.

all this to say, andi mack does an amazing job of creating of polished, perfect world for its characters. this is pretty common among disney channel and nickelodeon shows, but because most other shows tend to be filmed in a studio with three-wall sets, andi mack is really set apart from them in that it automatically feels more real and tangible. it has its quintessential recurring locations, but it has far more of them (most disney/nick shows usually only have 3-4 recurring settings), and it has a lot more one-off locations. it's also a lot more considerate when it comes to its props, so rather than the show just looking garish and aggressively trendy, it has a distinctive style that's actually appropriate to the characters and the story. overall this creates the effect of expanding the universe, making shadyside feel like it really is a part of a wider world, rather than an artificial bubble. it's idealism is, first and foremost, grounded in reality, and that provides a basis for its brilliant, creative, and relatable storytelling.

tl;dr: andi mack's sets and props give it a very retro and nostalgic tone which makes its whole universe seem super perfect and i want to live there so bad!!

#andi mack #buffy driscoll #cyrus goodman #jonah beck #tj kippen #tyrus #ambi #bex mack #analysis #film analysis #disney channel

[turtle-steverogers]

Steve Rogers’ DC Apartment

OOK so I watched TWS again today and every time I watch it I get intrigued about Steve’s apartment

First OFF this is the concept art for his apartment:

We see posters lining the walls and scattered on the floor, most some variant of Army decor, a rather old fashioned looking fireplace, a brown leather couch with a light wooden coffee table in front of it, a record player in the corner with vinyls strewn on the floor next to it. Everything is simultaneously neat and in place and not entirely unpacked/strewn.

It sort of gives me the impression that he tried to move in completely, but just,,,didn’t

The concept art below holds the same atmosphere of neat, but lived in with more views of posters half hung or left unattended on the floor

Highlights from the above picture:

-the jacket hanging off the chair

-his shield placed haphazardly against the wall

-mail tossed onto his kitchen counter

-pencil and paper left forgotten next to the mail

-Art of War on kitchen table

-Apple computer

-Keys and files carelessly placed on the table

I can picture Steve getting up in the mornings, strolling to his kitchen and grabbing a book along the way, then putting a pot of coffee on and popping some toast in the toaster before parking himself at his kitchen table to do some work

Also, everywhere you look in the apartment, there are books. Like Jesus, just when you think you saw the last of the stacks, there’s another stack somewhere and when you look at this scene in the actual movie, you get a pretty decent assortment of books that all seem fairly on brand for our knowledge of Steve:

In this shot especially, you notice a lot of titles: The Second World War, Madam President, etc. It seems that Steve mostly has political biographies, war encyclopedias, and history anthologies. I bet this is the genre that Steve enjoys most, but every single stack of books can’t all have the same content, so just how much is he reading? What else does he have?

Is he going to old bookstores on weekends, thrifting copies of whatever he can find? Does he spend hours in the shelves, pulling out stacks of whatever catches his eye? Does he recognize a title that maybe Nat or Bruce had suggested and purchase it for the hell of it? Did he take the time to comb through the bestseller lists from each year he was in the ice and decide to use that as a basis to catch up? 

Whatever the case may be, Steve is a Hefty Reader.

OK Let’S DELVE deeper in to his actual apartment in the movie

IN the above shot, we see more of those aforementioned book stacks from the concept photos, as well as quite a few unhung frames of artwork. The artwork in particular intrigues me, because Steve himself is an artist, so what kind of art has he chosen for his apartment? Is any of it his own? Like the books, where is he getting the art? Is he going to galleries on weekends as well? Does he support local artists or big names? Are some of them photographs? If so, what of? 

And below we can see some more of content he chose to frame, which I couldn’t exactly decipher, but these look a little more like photographs and so far, they seem to be the only ones hung out of the many that he clearly owns. What differentiated these enough for him to choose to hang them? Many thoughts head full

Also his dishes: he clearly doesn’t have a Ton of them, but I suppose, why would he need full sets? It looks like he got the essentials, but again, did he choose what kinds of silver/dishware he wanted? Or was it SHIELD provided?

I always chuckle a little here, because the dishware is so oddly placed-- some of the glasses are upside now, some are right side up and stacked in each other, some of the bowls are stacked, some stand alone. He’s incredibly inconsistent with his organization, but ya know, whatever. You do you, Stevie. It definitely gives the apartment a “I’m 29 and living alone so I do what works well enough” vibe

IN this shot, you can see the vinyls from the concept photos on the floor. Which at least I’m certain Steve picked out entirely himself and now I’m emo thinking about him going to an old record store some time on his own and getting lost in the rows and rows of old vinyls and picking out his favorites and some of Bucky’s favorites, then purchasing a familiar looking record player the first familiar thing in a while and bringing it back to his apartment. I’m just imagining him getting home and deftly slipping a vinyl onto the record player and instantly feeling like he’s simultaneously in 1936 and 2014 all at once, like if he turns around, the skyline will suddenly be what he remembers from before the ice and Bucky will be in the room over, humming along to Glenn Miller

Okay okay so here you can see his record player yah yah AND a radio (with cassettes underneath if you look closely), which definitely was another attempt to make his apartment feel like it used to. At this point, I realized that I didn’t see a TV anywhere, which doesn’t surprise me. He had to go inherently modern in some aspects of his living style, but things he could avoid, I’m sure he did.

Anyway, yah, overall Steve’s apartment gives me the vibe that he was sort of trying to make his place look as close to what he knows from his past as possible. Which, honestly fair.

This was just self indulgent. It's always fun seeing these little humanizing parts of characters-- little slices of life.

#Steve Rogers #captain america #ca:tws #steve rogers' apartment #marvel #marvel shit #steve rogers meta #marvel meta

[fyeah-bangtan7]

RM: “I hope I’m on my way somewhere”

There are two gears in his life that RM shifts between: when he has to pick up speed as the leader of a worldwide hit-making group, and when he makes his way back home and slowly cracks open some artist’s catalogue. Let’s take a look at the time in between, at the young artist’s journey to seek out his own canvas.

Do you still work out? Your stature looks very different. RM: It’s been around one year? Since I started doing it four times a week without fail. It’s like my lifeline. (laughs) Since, if you exercise, your body gradually improves. I like to feel like I’m doing something and getting better. If you look at other people posting their progress, you can see their bodies change dramatically, but I’m not very strict about my diet, so it’s not like that for me. (laughs) Still, I can feel my frame changing bit by bit.

I saw in the “ARMY Corner Store” video uploaded to YouTube for the 2021 FESTA celebration of your eighth anniversary that your life is focused on doing work and making appearances these days. Has following that repetitive routine led to any changes in your life? RM: My daily routine has become very clear-cut. Now that it’s been exactly a year since I started doing this mid-last year, I kind of think, So is this how people live? I have to go to work and come home, then there’s things I need to do there, and things I have to keep up with like exercise. And same for checking out exhibits. And so I thought my nature itself has changed a lot over the course of a year, but I don’t know whether it’s good for me as a creator.

Why’s that? RM: There was so much that happened with BTS, but with the current situation, sometimes it felt like those things were just things happening on my phone. When I’m listening to other music or watching something I’ll sometimes think about how I would do it, but my life is what it is right now, so I can only draw on things from my own life.

In that case, how did it feel to keep up the energy for your Grammys performance and for everything related to “Butter”? RM: I was really happy that we added one more thing to our list of accomplishments. I think our team really needed the work itself. It made me realize we still have things left to achieve. And I want to thank ARMY above all others for making all of this possible. I’m Korean, so I’m no stranger to finding joy in accomplishment. (laughs) It was really satisfying and nice. It would’ve been better if we got a Grammy, but so what if we didn’t? In the end, getting it means you have one more trophy at home, and after that your daily routine repeats.

How was writing the lyrics for “Butter”? Your performance with SUGA works to kick the energy of the second half of the song up a notch, but I also think, strikes a balance to improve the song as a whole. Your short rap feels like a fusion of American pop and BTS’s distinctive style. RM: That’s the part I spent the most time on. Even though the song’s in English, I thought we should make it feel like our own, so we kept the original but put a little of our own flavor in at the end.

I felt that fine-tuning turned out well. It’s short, but I think it would’ve been a very different song without that part. RM: It’d feel like something’s missing if it weren’t there, right? (laughs) I felt like we absolutely had to have it in there. There’s something different about us from American pop stars. Our DNA is different.

How was making “Permission to Dance”? You can count on one hand how many BTS songs have a message as positive as in that song. RM: Right. They talked about putting some rap in “Permission to Dance” while we were working on it, but we said it would never work. I have more fun when I’m singing and dancing than anything else. I think this song was one of the few times that I felt like I was just having fun while singing and dancing on it. It feels amazing to give into the song with your whole body and just laugh instead of thinking about it too much. I think that’s the power of the song. I wasn’t stressed preparing for it like I was with “Butter.” When it came to “Butter,” I had to think about what we should show off and how I could do that. I’m always careful not to be a problem within the group dynamic. But I didn’t really have to worry about that with “Permission to Dance.” Honestly, I felt like I only needed to add just a dash of the enjoyment I felt.

After the unimaginable continued success of “Dynamite” and “Butter,” this song feels a little more laid back. RM: Oh, this is really fun. Just like that. And there’s a line in the lyrics that says, “We don’t need to worry / ’Cause when we fall we know how to land.” The message is universal, but you could say it’s also something BTS has been saying all along.

You talked about “2! 3!” on “ARMY’s Corner Store,” saying, “2015 to 2017 was a tough time for us and our fans.” Were you able to say that because you ended up knowing how to “land”? RM: What I do can be thought of as a sort of business—a person-to-person kind of business. That’s why I want to be as honest with ARMY as I can be, almost obsessively so. They say it can’t happen in the world of K-pop, and there’s an aspect of good faith to that because I don’t want to worry the fans, but I want to tell them about the things we’ve been through as much as I can. Another reason I talked about those times was that I wanted to pay off my debts to a lot of people. To pass over this story like it never happened would be like saying “that’s not us.” And because it’s in the past. I think that, since it’s in the past, and since we’re doing all right now, and since those days were clearly necessary, I think we have to be able to talk about just how difficult a time that was.

It feels like that was something you wanted to convey to your fans, too. RM: Sometimes we’re artists whose souls are full to our very cores, sometimes we’re meticulous office workers, and sometimes we’re part of the hyper-patriotic “do-you-know club.” We’re many things all at once—that’s why we talked about persona and ego. It’s sort of painful and lonely to want to talk about these things to this extent, but I guess that’s who I am. I want to express myself in full.

Would you say that the song “Bicycle,” released during 2021 FESTA, shows who you are as a person? You talked about your everyday emotions using a bicycle as a metaphor. RM: I’ve faced a lot of pressure while making music throughout my life to move ahead a little more or make music that stands out better, from minor things like my rap technique to bigger things like trends. I wanted to be good at rapping and I wanted some recognition. In that sense, you could say “Bicycle” is somewhat defiant. I wanted to release a song to celebrate FESTA, but the subject matter is really important to me specifically. Bicycles hold an important place in my heart, so that’s just what I ended up writing about. The song’s something like a compass, telling me where I’m at right now, I feel like. My present-day life is the input, so that was going to end up being the output one way or another.

There’s a part in the lyrics where you say, “When you’re happy, it makes you sad.” I imagined you riding your bike and contemplating your life. RM: My feelings kind of go to extremes whenever I ride my bike. My personality used to run to both extremes sometimes, but it also comes back to me again on its own when I ride a bike. When I ride my bike, I’m free from the pressure of the things I’m supposed to feel and think about. I don’t care if people recognize me, and that’s the closest I get to feeling free, mentally and physically—when I’m riding fast and feeling like I’m up on a cloud.

In my case, there’s a big bookstore in my neighborhood, and there’s times when I’ll walk all the way there by myself and think over what kind of person I am while choosing which books to buy. Somehow it makes me think of that. RM: I read a book by Lee Seok Won from Sister’s Barbershop recently. He was contemplating why he likes bookstores. He remembered how not only is it noisy, but everybody’s staring at their books and not looking at anyone else, and there’s a kind of freedom in that. I really sympathize with that. So I make time to go to the bookstore and spend a little more time reading.

I end up talking to myself just by looking at all the book covers at the store. In a way, it’s contemplation on contemplation, but it seems to be an especially necessary time for you. RM: I think I’d be pretty bored without it, since I’ve been too sheltered lately. Read! Work out! Go to galleries! Ride my bike! (laughs)

So writing “Bicycle” was an experience that you had to go through anyways, even though we’re not sure where you’ve come from, where you’re at now, or where you’re headed to. RM: Exactly. It was exactly that kind of milestone of a song for me, and I think I kept that in mind to some degree when I released it for FESTA. I agreed to do something at first, but then I asked myself what I should do and that came to mind immediately: Let’s just do something about bikes.

Even the music has deep connections to all the music you’ve ever listened to, from folk to the hip hop and Korean indie scenes. RM: You’re right. I drew on music from the people who’ve had an impact on my life—artists I’ve been listening to lately, like Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley, and groups like KIRINJI.

It’s interesting how the end result is a song whose style is difficult to attribute to any one era. Neither the sentiment nor the sound is retro, nor do they reflect current trends. RM: I, and our team, are, you could say, at the forefront of pop, so after I made “Bicycle” we wondered whether we should go with it. But that’s actually why I ended up doing it this way instead. Because that’s what my life looks like right now. It’s good for me just to get to know myself this way, but I don’t want to trap myself, either. On the other hand, I’m interested in artists from all around the world who are totally different from me. There’s even people who make music on a whim and who don’t care about the genre whose music I’m interested in now. It’s—how should I say this? Anyway, I’m at some place in my life, I guess. (laughs)

Last year, in an interview with Weverse Magazine, you said, “I’m just 27 in Korean age.” I think “Bicycle” might be your own response to that statement—the song of someone who grew up listening to Drake in Korea. RM: You got it. Exactly. Drake’s the one who made me think I could sing, too, back in 2009 (laughs) and that’s what brought me all the way here. In the past I wanted to do something just like Drake—he influences Western music as the musical style he’s after changes. But because I don’t live my life the way they do, I can’t make the exact same music as them.

And for that reason, I figured it’s the kind of song that would end up on the playlists of people like you, as it has a style that can express that sort of person’s overall feelings more than any specific genre can. RM: That’s how it usually turns out eventually. I sometimes think this way: Can’t I put “Bicycle” on the same mixtape as some songs that are made totally off the cuff, like I just talked about? I wish I had that kind of flare or image when I made songs, but nowadays I’m really slow at making them. I can’t think of lyrics as well as I used to, either. I have more avenues to absorb new things, and yet the output coming from inside of me is ridiculously limited, and extremely slow. They say there’s plenty of stories of artists from the past going up to their canvas and being unable to pick up their brush and screaming, “Who am I?” That’s sort of how I’m feeling. I’ve been working on a mixtape since 2019, but I haven’t finished that many songs.

Well, maybe it’s because the direction you want to take with your lyrics has changed. That is, that you’re trying to express the ideas you’ve built up inside yourself, instead of your experiences or social commentary. RM: That’s why I can’t write lyrics as fast as I used to. I don’t know what I’m doing, so I have no choice but to just write first. And that’s why I think Yoongi is such an amazing person. I mean, how does he make that many songs, and so well? Maybe it’s because he takes a producer’s point of view, but I can’t do that. Not only am I jealous, but I also think the starting point when I’m making music has to be the lyrics. I just—I hope I’m on my way somewhere. But that’s how I always feel (laughs) so when I listen to my stuff from two years ago now, it already sounds old.

You’re featured on eAeon’s “Don’t,” which boasts impressive lyrics as well—lyrics that start with the color of waves and end with an image of pebbles. It seem like it’s your interest in art that allows you to keep developing such visual images. RM: I can’t say for sure, but it’s likely a strong reflection. I had seen an article where an artist said that pebbles are the perfect form: a rock worn down over and over in a series of incidents and coincidences, made into some round shape in the end. It said the artist collected pebbles for a long time, saying pebbles are so perfectly smooth without any edges, although they’re neither perfect circles nor ovals. Also, I absolutely love Lee Qoede. I saw a quote in a book about his art: “Let’s become entangled. Let us stand united. Let’s not argue. And let’s become pebbles in the new leadership narrative of my country.” He wrote it in a letter while he was working during the country’s liberation period. I thought it was, what, a very modern way to express things, for someone who lived through the chaotic political circumstances of 1948 to want to become a pebble. I felt like his words still have meaning—like they live on. I guess those two artists’ use of the word “pebble” made a very lasting impression on me.

I was impressed how the relatively large waves give way to the image of small pebbles, and then you end the flow with lyrics like, “Don’t take that name away, the one only you know,” and “I hate being just any wildflower,” about a small presence that is defined by others. RM: Yes, it was fun. I once thought how people’s relationships are like crashing waves, and I think that mixed together with my thoughts about pebbles and it came out all at once. There’s a sentence I wrote down a long time ago while I was thinking by the sea. I thought, Is there any color in the waves? When people talk about waves crashing in, what waves are they talking about? The blue waves, or the white waves? I went completely overboard with emotion when I was thinking that (laughs) but again, that’s just me. So I wrote this one sentence—“I wonder what color the waves are”—and listened to the music eAeon gave me, and it sounded to me like fog rolling over the ocean. It was really easy to start writing the lyrics since the sensory perception of that sentence overlapped with what he gave me. It was a so-called “aha moment” (laughs) and whenever that happens, the lyrics come out of me all at once. It only took about an hour and a half to write the lyrics. I thought of more lyrics later on, but I ended up sticking with the first ones.

What are you looking for that you’re thinking that much? RM: In the end, it’s really important for me to ask about who I am, and I want to express who I found myself out to be, but I’m having a really difficult time because I don’t know if what I found is right. So for now, “Bicycle” is also the result of collecting the selves I found who I think represent the best of me. Even while making a song like “Bicycle,” I have to convey—how do I put this? It’s just about me, this kid from outside the big city—an essence that I can’t get rid of, I guess. I can’t let go of the kid who used to perform in Hongdae. It’s not really something I want to express or hold onto; it’s my essence, so I don’t really have a choice. (laughs)

You’ll just ride your bike, anyhow. RM: Exactly. Exactly that. (laughs)

© source

#bangtan #rm #m:weverse magazine #210730

[jostepherjoestar]

Hewwo queen😔if you're still taking requests, could I ask one with la squadra and an artist s/o? Thank you💕💕💕

La Squadra with an artist s/o

sfw // gn reader // First of all... this was the request I mentioned before. I want everyone the address me with “Hewwo Queen😔” from now on!! it make me laugh so hard cause it reminds me of the “then perish” meme thanks for the lovely request <3

Risotto

Risotto admires your talent, often times when he’s trying his best to relax for once, he finds himself looking through your sketchbooks and drawings. He loves seeing your progress and noticing how you always seem to capture the lighting right.

When he gets to your most recent sketchbooks he starts to notice a familiar figure pop up a lot. Himself. Drawn in all sort of poses, his muscles being a great way to study body shapes as you tried to explain with a cheeky grin on your face when he asks you to explain your drawings of him.

On a quiet night you snuck up to your tall boyfriend, as well as you could sneak up on an assassin, with a present behind your back. Excited to see his reaction you handed him the wrapped canvas. Risotto made sure not to rip the pretty wrapping and had a stern look on his face as he saw the surface of the painting. You knew not to expect too much from him reaction wise so you were curious to hear what he had to say.

He just kept staring at the canvas, it was a painting of the only picture you had together. Privacy being a real issue in Passione. You’d asked Melone to take the photo when Risotto was asleep and you posed beside him, kissing him on the cheek. You’d showed him the picture, promising to keep it on you at all times and not to show it to anyone.

“I love it. So much, really darling this- Thank you.” he almost sounded flustered, reaching out to hug you. His reaction was so sweet, you knew he truly loved it. He placed it on the wall near his desk so he could look at it whenever he was working away, like most nights. A couple days later you found a wrapped pencil case on your drawing desk, new pencils, your favourite kind. A little stick man drawn on the card that said “I love you” in a crooked text bubble.

Formaggio

He’s in constant awe of how good you are, constantly praising you and showing off to anyone who’ll listen. He once showed a small drawing you did of a flower he kept in his wallet to a waiter while paying for the meal, embarrassing you to the max.

Seeing you study plants, people, landscapes, buildings, lighting, shadows, basically everything, he tried to see the world through your artistic eyes. He’d never really payed attention to expressing himself that way so he was curious to try.

Setting up canvasses or sketchbooks, all sorts of materials laid out in front of you to experiment with. You set up a still life on the table in front of you, a vase of flowers and some fruit strewn about. Assuring him this isn’t about how pretty or perfect the result is, but about how he sees the setup and wants to express it on the canvas or paper.

After both finishing you’re amazed by the colours he used and how abstract he painted the flowers and fruits. Your complements boosting his confidence. “But you’re still the real artist here sweetheart.” he said as he squeezed your hip as he admired your sketch.

You put his little painting in a frame and set it on your drawing desk, reminding yourself of your number one fan whenever you looked at it. It became a new relaxing activity for the two of you to enjoy with a glass of wine and snacks as you painted and drew together.

Illuso

Illuso loves art, but in particular he loves renaissance art. Whenever you two can, you’ll visit a gallery to admire the large paintings and sculptures. Illuso is quite judgy as well, offering no soft commentary on work he doesn’t enjoy. It’s mostly modern art he doesn’t like.

You try out different styles every now and then whenever you feel stuck in your own personal one, seeing if it could inspire you. To help in those situations Illuso has bought you multiple heavy books on his favourite painters. He isn’t afraid to venture into more recent styles, but he keeps it mostly to Italian or European artists.

When you tried out a more modern style in your newest experiment, he was surprised that he liked it as much as he did. “This is actually pretty good amore.” the complement sounding perhaps more like an insult, but you knew he meant it well.

Illuso himself however couldn’t draw, paint, sculpt or even photograph. He just had a hard time expressing himself in an artistic way, commenting one day that  “Can’t I just be the art myself?” earning a chuckle from you.

Prosciutto

Now Prosciutto likes art, classical paintings and sculptures but he doesn’t pay them any mind for too long. Yes it’s nice to look at but honestly he’d rather spend his time on other stuff. So when he met you he learned to appreciate art more. You’d show him around your workspace and show him the projects you’re working on.

The more you showed him the more he realised that being an artist isn’t just a hobby, it could also be a job as well. He never really thought it about it this way, realising that art is literally all around him. You were able to broaden his view, that you teased was sometimes a little too narrow.

He looks up to you for being able to express you thoughts and ideas and make something beautiful out of them.

As a gang member who has a lot of responsibility he prefers to spend his little amount of free time with the people he loves and trusts, like sitting around reading the paper or a book while you’re working away at your next piece.

Whenever you make him something, be it a drawing, painting, sculpture, and tell him he inspired it he will try his best not to blush. Taking you into a tight hug to cover up his face, thanking you for thinking of him. Honestly he loves that you’re creative and made him open his eyes a little more to the world he thought he already knew so well.

Pesci

The two of you have a cute tradition ever since you started going out together. A couple dates in, he slid you a napkin, face flushed red, with a scraggily drawn Pesci asking if he could be your boyfriend. Of course you happily accepted, having kept the napkin and pinned it to your wall next to your bed. Since then every time you go out and there’s a napkin around the two of you draw each other a funny figure or object.

To the other’s chagrin sometimes, creating way too many inside jokes that they don’t get. What do they not get, it’s a bowl of pasta with cheese on it saying “Cheesed to meet you!”

Besides the cute napkin drawings you store safely in a box, Pesci loves helping you out whenever he can. If you need him to help transport stuff he’ll gladly rent a car and drive, making sure that the ride becomes a cute little date.

He’ll always cheer you on when you feel stuck, doing whatever he can to aid you. Or if you’re having another failed all nighter, fallen asleep on your desk, he’ll come pick you up and carry you to bed. Blushing when you kiss him on the nose to thank him for it.

Melone

Melone absolutely loves that you’re an artist! He loves analysing art and the way people respond to it, the human psyche just really excites him. Often times asking people what they were feeling or what they interpreted when looking at your work. Like he was asking around for a survey, it was just his own curiosity.

He also loves modelling for you. You want him to sit in the garden on a rock between the rose bushes? No problem! Nude? NO PROBLEM! He’ll suggest it every time you ask him to model, assuring him that you won’t need another upclose muscle study for a fourth time this week.

He’ll be your personal promoter and manager if you want him to be, making sure if you want a personal gallery opening that you don’t get scammed for rent and that you can hike up the prices just a tiny little more on your own pieces. He’ll get you connected faster than the speed of light if you want him to.

But most of all he admires how hard you work and the effort you put into your art. He sees a piece of you in every project. You’ll find him staring at your work, a love struck look in his eyes. He’s quite a sappy guy when it comes to this stuff.

Just be sure to not let him near anyone who doesn’t like your work. Another attempt at murder at a gallery opening is not the publicity you want.

Ghiaccio

Ghiaccio loves abstract colourful art. Other styles that are too complicated or overhyped just makes him annoyed. He loves the simplicity of it, not paying any mind to any hidden meanings. If you do a lot of stuff in a modern or abstract style he’d pay you for the pieces even though he’s your partner. He just really loves supporting you and knows some people don’t compensate artists enough.

You were surprised at his interest, thinking him to not have the temper for art. Although you did discover, during a visit to a new modern exhibit in a local gallery, that Ghiaccio HATED it when the artists act pretentious and the vision of their work doesn’t match up with Ghiacco’s. Mumbling under his breath how “It’s just a square, a beautiful one yes, but it’s not representing how your mom didn’t love you!”.

You don’t comment too much on the meaning behind the modern pieces, he doesn’t seem like he wants to think about it anyway. So you let him enjoy the colourful shapes in his own way.

For his birthday you’d painted an abstract shapely piece in his colours; icy blue’s and the pop of red from his glasses and shoes. Swirly shapes that represented his hair. When you presented it to him his eyes lit up, earning you a passionate kiss that lasted a little too long, you had the rest of La Squadra waiting to eat the birthday dinner, eyerolls and clearing throats making Ghiacco let go with an annoyed growl. He loved it, since you made it and customised to him, he’ll cherish it forever.  

#sfw #gender neutral reader #jjba x reader #la squadra headcanons #jjba headcanons #jjba part 5 headcanons #la squadra x reader #risotto x reader #formaggio x reader #illuso x reader #prosciutto x reader #pesci x reader #melone x reader #ghiaccio x reader #cozy request

[mysteriesofloves]

How would dan and Blair celebrate each other birthdays

they’re both very tradition-based people so i think they would celebrate them the same sort of way every year. dan doesn’t like to make a fuss about his birthday until he’s with blair who makes a fuss about everything. no parties, though, he’s strict on that one, because (like jenny) he much prefers staying in with just his loved one and some board games. it’s in the spring, so she’d take him to walk around the cloisters if it’s nice out (which isn’t really a “dan” thing, i.e. something he would’ve thought of enjoying before he became friends with her, but he would love it the way he loves everything she’s introduced him to, just because she loves it), or traipsing through secondhand bookstores. maybe an exhibit or a concert if the dates line up. blair is very into gift giving and would get him things like: engraved monogrammed notebooks (with something like toujours, blair embossed on the inside cover), first editions she sought out at rare book stores or on auction, something practical but cute like heart-shaped kitchenware (the waffle maker…) she gets him magnolia cupcakes and they eat them in their pyjamas at the loft while playing strip scrabble, because it’s about the balance.

blair’s birthday is obviously an entire Event, and she is absolutely the kind of person who celebrates her “birthday week” (the notion of which dan finds utterly ridiculous but humours her anyway, he will call her a spoiled brat while continuing to spoil her in the same breath). they’d do something just the two of them the day before the Big Party — breakfast in bed, skating in central park and lunch at the morgan dining room (with the afternoon spent in the library/gallery). i think it’s less about getting gifts from dan for her, because she’s a girl who has everything and will continue to get everything, and anyone can (and will) fulfill her registry at harry winston but only dan would like, humiliate himself for her by paying a street band to play cyndi lauper and serenade her, or recreate the ending of funny face for her. macarons and champagne and an audrey movie to end the night (although, you know, the night doesn’t really end there).

#dair #gossip girl #db headcanons #got a little carried away with this because i haven’t done one of these in a while i missed it !! #if you get the strip scrabble reference 😌 iykyk #i will say that. upon reading ‘celebrate each other’s birthdays’ my first thought was. well. dan gets— #asks